The Ninja Game
by incensedance
Summary: What would happen if the two completely different worlds met? Kakashi and Minato-sensei are assigned an S-class mission to take down a missing-nin in a strange country called ‘Las Vegas’. But they aren’t the only ones searching… NarutoxCSI Complete
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or CSI, I'm just borrowing them for my own entertainment, and hopefully yours as well.

A/N: I know I have other stories waiting to be updated, and I promise I'll update them eventually, but I couldn't resist writing this! Oh, yeah, the title will make sense later on.

It's a CSIxNaruto crossover. Why, you ask? Well why not? Hope you enjoy! 

**The Ninja Game**

**Chapter One**

"You understand the importance of this mission, Minato."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Good, then start your preparations. You will depart tomorrow morning."

"Ano, Hokage-sama, may I ask a favor of you?"

"Mm, what is it?"

"I would like to bring Kakashi-kun with me on this mission."

The Third Hokage's eyes widened, "But he is just a child!"

"I am well aware of his age, as well as his capabilities." The blonde-haired jonin who stood before the Hokage replied, "I am his sensei, after all. And I know that he is good enough to take on this mission. Besides, he's been wanting a challenge for some time now."

"Are you sure, Minato?" Sarutobi did not seem convinced, "This is an S-class mission."

"Don't worry, old man. I'll be there to protect him."

"Alright then," the old man sighed after a moment, knowing that there was nothing he could do to change the stubborn man's mind. "The two of you will depart tomorrow morning."

"Hai!" the blonde jonin exited the office, a broad, triumphant grin on his face.

"Come on out, Kashi!" he said as soon as he got out of the building. Immediately, a dark figure dropped down from a nearby tree; a boy with silver hair and a face obscured by a dark mask.

"How did it go?" the boy asked. His voice was soft and controlled, with none of the enthusiasm or childishness expected from children his age. Yet it was not controlled enough to hide the anticipation.

"You're in!" the blonde sensei exclaimed happily, "We leave tomorrow at dawn!"

"Hai, sensei." Despite his reserved manner, the boy could not keep the hint of excitement from his voice.

"Come on, 'Kashi! You could at least sound happier!" Minato said, ruffling the boy's silver hair, "Aren't you excited?" beneath the mask, the boy scowled. He was going on an S-class mission, yet his sensei still treated him like a child.

"No." with a huff, the boy disappeared in a puff of smoke. Minato chuckled to himself, kids were so cute!

*~*~*

Gil Grissom sighed in exasperation as his pager rang again, the third time that night. Impatiently, he picked it up, "Grissom speaking."

There was a long silence as he listened, while his face grew grave, all the impatience gone. "Another one? Yes…okay, I'll be there immediately." He snapped the phone shut, and got up from his desk.

"Another case?" Catherine, his assistant supervisor, asked as he walked past her in the hall. He nodded curtly, "The Ripper struck again."

"Ah." Catherine said sympathetically. The Ripper was the name for the serial killer who had recently appeared in Vegas, known for the bloody remains he left behind. "You know…I could come with you."

"But your own case-"

"I've just wrapped it up, and yours will probably be a lot more work. Not to mention bloodier." Catherine interrupted.

"Thanks, Cath." Grissom said gratefully.

"No problem."

The two of them left in Grissom's car and drove off towards the crime scene. It was going to be a long night.

*~*~*

Their mission was simple; to hunt down a missing-nin from the Mist. The target wasn't even that strong, only a low-ranking jonin whom Minato knew he could defeat easily. Not someone whose elimination would be considered an S-class mission. No, what was much troublesome was the place the missing-nin had escaped to.

It was a city across the sea, on a faraway side of the world, where no one knew of chakra or shinobi, in a city called, um, something like "Las-vee-gas". Not much was known about this almost separate world outside, but Minato couldn't wait to find out.

And he was not disappointed when, after five days rough, stormy traveling by sea and two days' journey by land, during which the two shinobi picked up on the local language, they finally arrived at their destination.

Though it was night, the city, which Minato now knew was called "Las Vegas", was still bustling with life. It was huge, bigger than even Konoha, larger, in fact, than any city the two shinobi had ever seen before. And noisier. And more crowded.

The blonde jonin looked around in awe, absorbing the lights and sounds and sights of the metropolis. The people walked past, without even looking at the two strangely-dressed shinobi. In Las Vegas strange people were a common sight.

"Sensei," Kakashi's voice interrupted Minato's thoughts, and he adverted his gaze from a woman wearing a skirt that was way too short. Well, what did you expect? His teacher had been Jiraiya, after all. Kakashi stared at him strangely.

"What is it, 'Kashi?" Minato could swear that he was smirking.

"That's a guy."

"What!?" Minato gaped, his face turning a strange greenish color at the thought. Kakashi snickered uncharacteristically, unable to hold back his mirth.

"Sensei." He repeated again once the laughing fit had passed, "Shouldn't we be looking for the missing-nin?"

"Yes! Of course!" Minato seized the change in topic eagerly, "Can't you summon some nin-dogs to sniff him out?"

"Sorry. I can't unless we have a sample of the missing-nin's scent."

Minato sighed in exasperation, grabbing at his hair. The city was so big, how in the world were they going to find the stupid missing-nin? "Let's divide and conquer." He finally said, "Meet me back here by dawn."

"Hai," and both of them disappeared in puffs of smoke, leaving behind a street full of confused pedestrians.

*~*~*

Nick and Sara were already on the scene when Grissom and Catherine arrived. Yellow tape surrounded the scene of carnage, and even Grissom winced as he saw the blood splattered over the walls of the small suburban house. Water mixed with blood dripped down the walls and pooled on the floor in puddles. The coroner, David, knelt by the mangled mess that was, presumably, the body.

"This is the fourth victim." He said needlessly, stooping under the tape with Catherine. "Based on liver temperature, the time of death was about an hour ago."

"Same M.O.?" she asked. David nodded.

"The victim was stabbed multiple times, the body mutilated, and the internal organs pierced multiple times. With these injuries, it's almost impossible to tell the cause of death, but it would be a safe guess to say blood loss." The coroner replied.

Catherine looked around at the walls, which were practically dyed crimson. "Uh huh, it's a bloodbath in here."

"And no murder weapon found. The house has also been flooded with water, like the last three cases." Nick added.

"Any clues yet?" Grissom asked the two CSIs. Nick and Sara shook their heads. "We've just started, but there is nothing at all. Just like the last times."

"Keep looking, the killer is bound to be careless."

Catherine carefully stepped over a puddle of red water as she made her way into the house, "Where does all this water come from?"

"All the faucets in the house are turned off." Nick supplied, "And there were no fingerprints. It's almost as if it just…appeared."

"From thin air? We're looking for a murderer, not a magician." Grissom said sharply, "There must be a scientific explanation for all of this."

Sara snorted. "Right, tell me when you find it."

*~*~*

To be honest, Kakashi didn't think much of this new land. First of all, it was too noisy. The sounds of those hulking, ugly, abominable things that they called 'cars' never stopped, accosting his sensitive ears until he felt that he would go deaf. And the odors they gave off! He never thought that he would come to hate his extra sensitive smell. His nose twitched slightly at the memory, and he could even taste it in his mouth.

Not to mention the people. It almost gave him a heart attack when he realized that the pretty lady his sensei was staring at was actually male, and the strange man painted silver in the streets, and the acrid smell of alcohol, smoke and other things clinging to almost everyone he met.

Oh yes, he couldn't wait until they finished this mission.

So now he was hiding in the shadows of the tall tree next to the house, pursuing a lead. From inside the house, he could feel the very faint presence of chakra, possibly remnants of a jutsu that was performed inside the house by his quarry, the only other ninja besides himself and his sensei in this strange land. The fact that it was a water type jutsu merely served to strengthen his assumption. If only he could get inside, then maybe he could summon his nin-dogs and hunt down the missing-nin.

The only problem was the large crowd surrounding the house. Really, he thought idly, it was only a few people dying—he could smell the metallic blood from where he was—there really wasn't anything interesting to see. His life was filled with death, and the war with Iwa, so a few more did not seem to be anything to make a fuss about.

But the people here seemed to think that it was a very big deal. And so Kakashi was stuck outside, wondering what to do now. Maybe he could just walk up and sneak in and hope no one suspected the silver-haired, masked child wandering around the crime scene. Right.

A thought passed through his mind as he considered. _What would sensei do? _Suddenly, a foreign chakra coming, not from the house, but from behind him, caught his attention. It did not belong to his sensei. It did not feel friendly. And it was coming straight towards him.

_Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu._

Kakashi had a split second to react before the attack reached him, and he instinctively leapt out of the tree just before the branch he was standing on exploded as a pillar of water crashed into it.

The silver-haired chunin landed gracefully on the trunk of another tree, using his chakra to secure himself to the bark. "Hah, fast little brat." He heard a voice say. The dim light of the moon illuminated the scarred face of a Mist shinobi, smirking cruelly. A long scar ran through his hitae-ate, the mark of a missing-nin.

_Shit!!_

Kakashi dodged two kunai that flew towards him, landing on an outstretched branch. His sensei's advice came back to him, _If you come into contact with the enemy, run. Don't engage in combat for any reason_.

Throwing a few shuiken back in retaliation, Kakashi retreated quickly, in the direction of the houses.

"Too slow!" Kakashi's eyes widened as the missing-nin appeared in front of his face, grinning widely, holding a kunai in his right hand. "Goodbye, brat!" the kunai stabbed downwards into Kakashi's stomach…and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Kage Bunshin?" the missing-nin growled.

He easily moved out of the way as a kunai sped towards him from the treetops, "Did you really think you could get me with that?" But Kakashi was smarter than that. An explosion shook the city for miles as the exploding tag tied to the kunai detonated in the missing-nin's face.

Kakashi was dimly aware of the fact that the people surrounding the house were now milling outside, searching for the source of the explosion, but he had more pressing matters to tend to. For example, the missing-nin who had, unfortunately, not been killed by the exploding tag, and was now furiously trying to kill the silver-haired boy.

"Damn brat! I'll kill you!"

_He's fast! _Kakashi thought as he dodged the hail of blows aimed to kill. He rolled out of the way of a shuiken aimed at his head, and fell off the tree, landing in a crouched position on the ground. Immediately, he flipped back onto his feet and rolled to the left, avoiding yet another deadly weapon.

_What's taking sensei so long?_ He wondered, leaping backwards, away from the succession of shuikens that slammed into the ground where he had been just milliseconds before. Then he felt the chakra gathering around him and realized that he had just walked into a trap.

_Kuso-!_

The water pooled on the ground from the missing-nin's first jutsu moved, gathering into long, needle-like shapes. Surrounded, Kakashi tried with a burst of speed to dodge, but only managed to partially avoid the water-needles.

"Heh, looks like it's not a clone this time. Not bad, kid, you avoided all the vital points." The missing-nin said, appearing in a flash before the boy fallen on the ground. "But still not good enough."

Kakashi stayed silent, gasping for breath. Scratches covered his body, with an especially nasty cut through his left shoulder, where he had barely dodged the needle that would have pierced his heart.

"Too bad, kid." The missing-nin twirled a kunai between his fingers, a smirk on his face. His hand rose, clutching the kunai, and started to descend…

The sounds of voices nearby caught their attention. "LVPD! Who's there?!"

The missing-nin smirked, and stabbed downwards. The kunai embedded itself in the ground beside Kakashi's head, "Looks like you got lucky today." The missing-nin said, "But next time, I'll kill you for sure." And in a puff of smoke, he disappeared, leaving Kakashi bleeding on the ground.

His last thought before losing consciousness was _Where the hell is sensei_?

*~*~*

TBC

Not bad, right? Right? (please say yes…)


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or CSI

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Sorry any mistakes in the previous chapter, I hope this chapter can clear things up. By the way, Kakashi is only nine in this story, so he doesn't have his Sharingan yet.

**The Ninja Game**

**Chapter Two**

Minato strolled down the street, whistling a song. This city was, to put it simply, awesome. He stared at yet another building with flashing lights, in the shape of a palm tree with some foreign language he could not understand. But he did not look at the girls anymore, however tempting, for he remembered the previous incident when Kakashi told him that the "girl" he saw was actually a guy. The Yellow Flash still shuddered when he thought about it. No way he would risk that embarrassment again.

_But_, he though, ripping his gaze away from the multi-colored, lighted bus passing by, _I still have a mission to complete_.

Sighing, he got to work. The most logical place to start, of course, was to scout out the city. Minato disappeared in a flash of yellow, appearing on the roof of a tall building. From here, he could see the whole city bathed in the myriad lights, like a sea of fireflies.

_Now, if I were a missing-nin, what would I do?_ Minato wondered idly. The logical thing to do was to find somewhere to live first. And according to the information the Hokage had given them, the missing-nin they were after had come from the Mist, so he would probably choose somewhere that was close to a source of water.

His eyes scanned the city, and fell on a small, dark creek snaking its way through the lights. Well, it was a place to start. Minato disappeared in a flash of yellow, headed in the direction of the river.

*~*~*

In a puff of smoke and a flash of yellow, Minato appeared inside by the street next to the river. After a cursory glance around to make sure there was no one waiting to ambush him, he sauntered off towards the river.

There was a bridge across the river, bordered by a fence to keep pedestrians from falling off. Underneath this bridge, Minato could sense a faint trace of chakra. Though it was hours old, he could still tell that it belonged to someone he did not recognize.

So he was right, the missing-nin must have been here, or at least performed a jutsu here. Hopefully, there would be something left behind. Minato considered summoning a toad to track his quarry down, but decided not to. Kakashi's nin-dogs would be much more suited to the task, especially in such a large city.

Suddenly the sounds of loud voices caught his attention. He turned to see a group of people stumbling towards the alley he was in. There were about six of them and they were all pretty big, but Minato knew from experience that size did not always mean strength, especially in his own profession.

He did not need his superhuman senses to tell that they were drunk. Some of the words that they shouted sounded offensive, though the blonde did not know exactly what they meant, and raucous laughter followed these comments.

Minato groaned in exasperation. Just what he needed. Drunks.

The men caught sight of him, and made their way over. "Wadda we 'ave 'ere?" one of them said, pointing to Minato, "Lost little boy." Minato understood this, and bristled in anger. They called him a _boy_. Sure, he was the youngest jonin and barely twenty years old, but no one would ever call him boy, at least not if they wanted to leave with all their limbs attached. He wasn't a jonin for nothing.

"Not a boy." Minato snapped, "Go away." The thugs seemed to find this funny, and laughed loudly.

"Cocky, aren't we. Say uncle, and maybe we'll let you run home." Another drunk said, making a rude gesture.

Of course, Minato did not even need to know what he was saying; the gesture was enough. Without hesitation, the jonin reached out, grabbed his hand and twisted it painfully behind his back. The thug yelled in pain.

His friends stood there, shocked, not believing that anyone would be bold enough, or stupid enough, to do this to one of them.

"Damn punk!" the one with a tattoo on his right forearm shouted after the initial shock had worn off, and launched himself at Minato. Once the first move had been made, the others were also quick to attack. It was a six-on-one fight, after all, and the odds were in their favor.

Or so they thought. Minato disappeared before they could reach him, and the five thugs, not including the one who was still holding his arm howling in pain, landed on a heap on the floor. Minato flicked some non-existent dust off of his shirt. Really, he hadn't even broken that man's arm, there was no need to make such a fuss.

The people in this world were obviously not strong, Minato concluded, if they were all like these punks at his feet. He could not feel any chakra off of them, and their fighting stances were worse than the youngest student at the academy; they would make terrible ninjas.

After a moment, the first drunk, who had sobered up a bit, pulled himself to his feet, his face twisted with anger. He threw a punch at Minato.

Sighing, the jonin caught the punch easily. He held the man's wrist in a vice-like grip as the others also got up off the floor.

"Go, or…I kill you." Minato said seriously. Hopefully that would scare them away. They attacked again. Minato shrugged, he'd go easy on them.

Two minutes later, six bodies lay on the floor, unconscious. _Maybe I went a little too far._ Minato thought, surveying the rather pathetic sight. Then he shrugged _Maa, whatever_.

The sound of one of those smoke-emitting things that they called cars caused the blonde to turn, then squint as the headlights of a car nearly blinded him. _More trouble?_ He wondered, rolling his eyes. When would they ever learn?

*~*~*

Warrick was not with the others at the Ripper scene. Of course, he had asked, but Grissom had refused and sent him on this case instead. _After all,_ the supervisor had told him, _the other cases won't solve themselves._

The CSI groaned as he hit another red light. While Grissom, Catherine, Sara, and Nick were having all the fun, he was here investigating some bank robbery. Where was the justice? Then, sounds of fighting in an alleyway caught his attention.

Immediately, Warrick took out his radio, "Dispatch, this is CSI Brown, reporting a fight. It's in a small alley on xxxx Street (A/N: Sorry, couldn't think of anything), downtown Las Vegas." They told him to wait for backup. So, being the obedient CSI that he was, Warrick pulled over and did nothing as the sounds of fighting continued to go on in the background, knowing that he was only following protocol.

It sounded intense. Hesitating for a slight moment, Warrick's green eyes hardened in determination. Hell with the protocol. He backed up his car and turned, entering the alleyway with his headlights blazing.

What he saw there was definitely not what he had expected.

Instead of the scene of carnage he had expected, there was only one man standing in the alleyway, a blonde young man wearing a vest and a headband of some sort which would be considered strange if this weren't Las Vegas. Stranger things were a common sight in Sin City.

The young man looked up in surprise as Warrick's car, squinting at the bright headlights shining on his face. Behind him, Warrick could see the bodies of five, no six other men, who were out cold, but still breathing.

Cautiously, Warrick stepped out of his car, a hand on his gun. "Yo." The blonde greeted him, raising two fingers in a strange salute. "You want fight?" his voice was strongly accented, and the English sound strange coming from his mouth, as if he had just learned it a few moments ago. A foreigner.

"No." Warrick replied carefully, "I don't want to fight."

The blonde grinned, "Good."

"Sir, what's your name?" Warrick asked, still wary.

"Namikaze Minato." He replied after a moment of consideration. "You?"

"Warrick Brown," Warrick said.

Minato smiled, "He-llo Warrickbrown-san." He greeted amicably. He extended a hand. Warrick did not take it.

"What happened here?" The CSI asked, gesturing towards the six unconscious bodies on the ground.

Minatio shrugged. "They…not dead." He said simply, then smirked. "Yet."

Warrick stared. He did not buy that at all. The six unconscious men were large, and probably strong too, and there was no way only one relatively thin young man could take them all down without help, especially unarmed. But his hand did not leave his gun; the young man could still be hiding something.

"I need you to tell me what exactly happened here." Warrick said again, "How did you get into a fight with them?"

Minato shook his head, "I not fight." He said, "They fight, I make them so-rry."

"Okay…" Warrick took another look at the unconscious men. They looked drunk, probably on their way home from a bar after a night of partying. It was easy for a conflict to rise from misunderstanding if you were drunk and saw a stranger in a secluded place who did not know what you were saying. "I'll still need you to go the police station to leave a statement." He said.

The blonde frowned, "I look for person." he said, "Is dan, uh, dan-gous." He stumbled slightly over the last word.

"You mean dangerous?" Warrick asked, interpreting the mutilated English. Minato nodded and took out a piece of paper from a vest pocket. It was a photograph of a man's face, scarred and scowling, with a headband similar to Minato's on his forehead. There was a single line, like a scar, drawn through the middle of the headband.

"You see?" Minato asked, pointing towards the photo and watching Warrick's face carefully. The CSI studied the photo, careful to keep his distance, "No, can't say I've seen him." he said. Minato sighed and placed the photo back into his pocket. He knew that the CSI wasn't lying.

The sounds of police sirens caught their attention. Two police cars pulled up next to Warrick's car and the police officers stepped out, looking confused. "Where's the fight?"

"Don't worry, I've got this under control." Warrick said, grinning as he saw their dumbfounded expressions. "When are the paramedics going to arrive?"

"They should be here in a few minutes."

"Well, after you take these guys to be patched up, take them back to the station for questioning." Warrick instructed gesturing towards the unconscious men on the ground. "And please take Mr. Namikaze, was it? Back to the station for his statement."

The policemen nodded and got to work. "What exactly happened?" one of them whispered as he passed.

"Hell if I know." Warrick whispered back.

"Sir, would you please come with us," another policeman, the younger looking one, was leading Minato to the police car.

Then, suddenly the blonde froze, his eyes widening in surprise, as if he had sensed an undetectable change in the atmosphere. "Kuso!" he turned to look towards the other side of town. "Kakashi!"

The policeman with him looked up in surprise, "Excuse me?"

But Minato was not listening, and he shook of the policeman's grip on his arm. "Hey!" the policeman tried to grab him again, "You can't do that!"

Minato glanced back at him, "Gomen," he said apologetically, then disappeared in a flash of yellow, leaving behind six unconscious men, and two very perplexed police officers.

Warrick stared at the place where the blonde had stood just two seconds ago, wondering if there was something wrong with his eyes. How could a man just disappear into thin air? A small part of his mind wondered what Grissom would say, _There must be a scientific explanation for this._

*~*~*

The Yellow Flash of Konoha felt the flashes of chakra on the far side of the city and cursed his own stupidity. He recognized one of the auras—Kakashi had the special white chakra of the Hatake clan—and the other one, though not familiar, was undeniably strong. No doubt the missing-nin had found Kakashi, and Minato was too far away to help.

_Damnit! I should never have split up with him!_ He thought as he rushed towards the chakra bursts, ignoring the lights around him; this was no time to admire the scenery.

The chakra signals were flaring, and Minato knew that now Kakashi was fighting the missing-nin. He just hoped his apprentice would remember his orders to get out of there as fast as he could and let Minato deal with the enemy.

_Almost there!_ The white chakra was fading. Minato cursed again. Kakashi was losing, he realized, and put on another burst of speed. His own chakra flared, warning the missing-nin of his arrival. He hoped that this, at least, would buy him some time. And the missing-nin seemed to have gotten his message, since the unfamiliar chakra turned and left.

Minato sighed in relief once he realized that he could still feel Kakashi's chakra, though it was growing steadily fainter. The kid had passed out, no doubt, or was very close to it. The blonde jonin sensei willed himself to run faster.

_Hold on, Kakashi._

*~*~*

TBC

A/N: Wasn't too boring, right? Sorry if there was no Kakashi in this chapter, but I promise he'll be in the next one. Please review! 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Don't own.

A/N: This chapter is a birthday present for my sisters, Ange and Pat! Happy birthday! Sorry for posting it so late. 

The Ninja Game

Chapter Three

Grissom and Sara walked behind the police as they combed the forest, guns drawn, for the source of the explosion. "Do you think it's the killer?" Sara asked as they made their way through the forest a careful distance behind the police.

Grissom did not reply, and Sara continued, "You know, it's common for a serial killer to return to the scene of the crime."

"Yes, but why would he blow something up right next to a bunch of policemen? And looking at his previous victims, explosives don't seem to be his specialty." The supervisor said.

"So what do you think it was?"

"Well, we won't know until we find the site of the explosion." Grissom replied. He paused as his foot hit a puddle of water, "Strange, it hasn't rained in days."

"Maybe it was the killer. He apparently has some way of making water appear from nowhere." Sara suggested. Grissom raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to reply.

"Wait, there's something there!" Brass shouted. Sara and Grissom craned their necks to see what the police had seen. In the semi-darkness illuminated by the flashlights, there was something white on the ground, though what it was they couldn't tell yet.

Cautiously, Brass walked up to the silvery thing, his gun held up before him. He lowered his gun and knelt down to get a better look once he saw that it was not an immediate threat, "Hey! Call the paramedics! It's a kid. He's alive but hurt."

Immediately, the officers reached for their radios. Sara and Grissom hurried forward, "How is he?" in the dark, they could only see the boy's hair, which was, strangely, white, and he wore a headband across his forehead. His eyes were closed, but ragged breaths tore through his body, telling them that he was still alive. A mask covered his face, and Grissom carefully took it off, revealing a child's face. Beside him, there was what looked like a knife embedded in the ground.

"Bad." Brass replied, showing them his hand. It was red with blood. A police officer shined his flashlight on them, and the CSIs could see the many scratches covering his body, with an especially nasty gash in his left shoulder.

"Damn whoever did this." Sara muttered, her fists clenching by her side. The kid looked no older than eight or nine, too young to be hurt.

"We have to stop the bleeding." Grissom instructed, still calm despite the situation. "Apply pressure to the wounds, or he'll bleed out in a few minutes."

"Hang in there, kid." Sara whispered, pressing down on his left shoulder as Grissom tore up his shirt into makeshift bandages.

"What the hell is taking the paramedics so long?" Brass demanded angrily.

"They're on their way, sir!"

Suddenly, the boy stirred, groaning softly. The two CSIs and Brass immediately turned their attention to him, "How do you feel, kid?"

The white-haired child looked up at them, confusion evident on his face despite the pain, "Sen…sei…?" he muttered, half choking as a trail of blood made its way out the corner of his mouth. _Sensei?_ Sara wondered, _That's the Japanese word for…teacher, right?_

"Don't worry, we're here to help. Just hang in there. Breathe."

The boy's eyes looked past them, at something farther behind. "Come on, stay with us!" Sara encouraged, grasping one of his hands in her own as if her grip could keep him conscious until help arrived. But the boy's body relaxed once more as his eyes slid shut and he passed out again.

*~*~*

Minato landed soundlessly on a tree by a street lined with houses. If this were any other time, he would have stopped to make an exclamation on how large the houses were, but not right now. He had just lost Kakashi's chakra signal. This could only mean that Kakashi was out cold.

_Or worse_, a part of his mind intoned, but he ignored it.

"Chikuso!" he swore in frustration. But-

_There._ He felt a weak flare of familiar white chakra, coming from somewhere in front of him. A surge of relief filled his chest; at least Kakashi was still alive. The shrill sounds of sirens from nearby filled his ears, but he ignored it, focusing solely on the quickly fading chakra. He moved towards it, flashing by houses, cars and the occasional stray cat unlucky enough to be scared half to death by the yellow lightning that zipped past.

The white chakra had faded once more, indicating that the silver-haired chunin was again unconscious, but Minato had already pinpointed his location. He was going to find his student, and woe to anyone who got in his way.

*~*~*

Then, to the immense relief of everyone on the scene, sounds of an ambulance could be heard, and then the sound of the paramedics running through the forest. They arrived seconds later, swarming around the boy and pushing the CSIs out of the way.

"Are you okay?" Grissom asked as the two of them stood on the sidelines, unable to do anything but watch. There was concern in his eyes, and not all of it was for the boy.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." She replied absently, still looking at the paramedics hurrying around. "It's just that…things like this shouldn't be happening." She shook her head as if to clear it. The paramedics had already stabilized the boy and were carefully loading him onto a gurney and wheeled him towards the ambulance.

"Come on, we have to process the scene." Sara said, but Grissom put a hand on her shoulder. "No, we have to change first." She paused midstride and looked down self-consciously. Her hands and shirt were stained with blood from the boy's wounds, as were Grissom's. "Right." She muttered, allowing him to steer her away.

A sudden commotion at the edge of the forest stopped them in their tracks. "Kakashi!" they heard someone call in an urgent, panic-filled voice. Sara caught sight of a young blonde man who looked no older than twenty, wearing a strange vest and unusual clothes. He looked worried, and was anxiously trying to reach the ambulance. The police surrounding the scene attempted to stop him.

"Sir, you aren't supposed to be here!"

"Sir, you'll have to leave, this is a crime scene!"

But the blonde did not seem to hear, but shouted something in a foreign language, a frustrated look on his face. Whatever he said, it did not sound friendly. "I think he's trying to reach the boy." Grissom shouted.

"Hey, calm down!" Brass shouted, grabbing the blonde's arm, leaving smears of blood from his hands. "The kid's safe! The paramedics are taking him to the hospital."

This seemed to trigger a reaction, and the blonde calmed down somewhat. "Kakashi is…safe?" he asked apprehensively, his English heavily accented. "Yeah," Brass replied, still keeping his grip on the blonde's arm. "But he's hurt. He's being cared for by the paramedics, so don't worry." The detective reassured.

"Kakashi…" the blonde muttered again, watching the paramedics finish pushing the gurney into the ambulance. "I can…fix," the man told Brass, "Heal jutsu. Tsunade-hime teach me. A lit-tle."

"I think the paramedics can do their job." Brass said, looking at him strangely. He had no idea what the blonde had just said besides the fact that he claimed to have some kind of healing power. Maybe a medical degree? Minato looked at the paramedics doubtfully, "I go with?" he asked hopefully, gesturing towards the ambulance.

"No, I don't think so." A flash of annoyance passed through Minato's eyes, but he did not protest. "I need to ask you some questions back at the station." Brass continued. "If you'd be kind enough to come quietly." Minato nodded mutely. "Good." Brass said, "Come on. The faster we get this done, the faster you can see the kid."

"I'll ride with the ambulance." Sara announced. Grissom looked like he was going to argue, but stopped when he saw her expression. "Okay then." He said, "I'll tell Nick and Catherine to process the scene. You go on ahead."

Sara nodded gratefully and made her way to the ambulance. Behind her, Grissom sighed , remembering that he still had the first crime scene to process. This was going to be a long night.

*~*~*

_Asking some questions…that meant interrogation, right?_ Minato had no doubt about this, especially when he was pushed into the small "police car" thing that these people traveled in and realized that there were no handles from inside. Not that this fact bothered him, since he could easily have broken down the flimsy metal door, but…

_They have Kakashi._ Minato bit his lip while considering his options. He could escape now, but he had no idea where they were taking Kakashi, and, to make things even harder, the boy was hurt and in no condition to move around soon. Or he could wait and see what would happen, the man who had told him to get into the car had said that he would be able to see his student again.

The logical thing to do as a shinobi was to escape, as capture by the enemy was often times worse than death. But, he reasoned, these people were hardly shinobi, and they seemed nice enough. All jonin were trained to withstand torture; it was a part of the jonin exam. Minato was sure he could take anything these people dished out.

He might even find some information himself. The city was a large place, and Minato knew that if he and Kakashi searched alone, it would take weeks to find the missing-nin. But if these people were the law-enforcement here, they might know something useful.

And he was definitely not going to leave Kakashi behind.

After they finally reached the police station, Minato was shown to the interrogation room and told to wait there for a moment. The door, he noticed, was locked and steel-reinforced. They didn't restrain him in any way, however, for which he was thankful. But really, these people were underestimating him. Even though he was young, he was still a shinobi, and could aready see eleven different ways out of the room.

The interrogation room, Minato decided, was actually quite nice. Nothing like the ones back in Konoha. A large steel table stood in the middle of the room, and a large mirror covered one side of the room, _Two-way mirror_, he thought. Then there was probably a hidden microphone somewhere in the room too. He looked around but noticed nothing, under the table perhaps? Minato did not feel like looking. Instead, he stared at his own reflection in the mirror, wondering vaguely if he really did look that tired.

The interrogation rooms back in Konoha were small, with nothing but a chair inside. And there were no windows, so that the victim felt trapped. Minato understood the workings of an interrogation well, though it was not his forte; Konoha had an interrogation unit for that, and several members of the Yamanaka clan with their handy mind manipulation techniques.

Still, a smile tugged at the corners of the blonde's mouth at this thought, he had his own ways to deal with an interrogator.

The sound of footsteps distracted him from his thoughts and he looked up to see the door open. The man who had brought him here entered, along with another person, man with glasses and holding a case of some sort. Minato did not bother to stand up when they entered.

"Hello, sorry for the wait." The man with the glasses said, "I'm Gil Grissom, from the Las Vegas crime lab."

"Jim Brass, Las Vegas police." The other man said.

"Hel-lo," Minato greeted, "Namikaze Minato." He introduced himself.

"So, Namikaze," Brass started. "We just need to ask you a few questions." Minato nodded, wondering what interrogation techniques they used here.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Brass asked.

"Iie." Minato replied. They looked at him strangely, "Ah, No." he corrected hastily, remembering that they did not understand his language.

"So where do you come from?" inquired Grissom. Minato grinned, "Is se-cret." He said. Grissom raised an eyebrow, "That's not the answer we wanted."

But Minato shook his head. "I tell you," he said gravely, "I kill you."

There was a long silence following this statement. For some reason Grissom had the feeling that he was not joking when he said this. "Okay, you don't want to tell us, fine." Brass finally spoke, "How about the kid? What is he to you?"

"Kakashi is a-pen-tis." Minato explained, looking cheerful again. "Stu-dent." He elaborated when Brass and Grissom looked confused.

"Apprentice?" Grissom supplied.

"Hai."

"Where are his parents?" the nightshift Supervisor asked. Minato's expression darkened slightly, "Dead." He replied simply. Grissom's eyes widened at this answer, which was clearly not what he had expected. He did not pursue the matter any further.

"What are you two doing in Vegas?" Brass asked before another awkward silence could descend. "I bet it isn't just to have fun. People take their kids to Disney when the visit America, not Las Vegas."

"Eh, I have job." Minato said, deciding that now was not the best time to tell them about his mission. "Kakashi help."

"And what kind of job is this?" Brass demanded, "And don't tell me it's a seceret."

Minato glanced at him, as if these threats would work on him! "Easy job," he reassured them, "Is just a-lim-a-na-shun." (A/N: he means elimination)

"Excuse me?"

"Find person." Minato explained. A glint of something deadly flashed through his eyes as he thought of the missing-nin and Kakashi somewhere in this world, hurt and in a hospital. "Find, and kill."

Then, the door opened.

*~*~*

Warrick walked through the lab in a foul mood. After the the incident with the mysteriously disappearing blonde, he had searched all around but found nothing. And the robbery case he was assigned to turned out to be nothing more than a prank call, so he had returned to the lab hoping that the other CSIs had found something on the Ripper case.

"Hey Cath." He greeted as he passed by Catherine. "How was the case?"

"Ugh, don't even mention it." Catherine sighed. "We found nothing again. But the Ripper decided to come back." Warrick's green eyes widened, "What?"

"Don't get too excited, he got away again. And left another victim." Her mouth tightened. "A boy." Warrick's eyes widened even more, "You mean-"

"It's okay, he survived." Catherine continued. "Sara is with him in the hospital right now."

"And we have no suspects?"

"Actually…there is one." Catherine said.

"Who?" Warrick asked eagerly.

"Well, we're not sure right now. It's a strangely dressed foreign person, Japanese or something, which is strange considering that he's blonde. But he's in the interrogation room with Brass and Grissom." Catherine informed him.

"A foreign blonde? With strange clothes?" Warrick's expression suddenly turned into one of shock. "I think I know who he is." He hurried past her towards the interrogation room.

"What? Warrick, wait!"

Warrick ignored her comments and opened the door. Inside, he was greeted with the surprised faces of his supervisor, the detective, and a cheerfully grinning blonde.

"Hel-lo, Warrickbrown-san!"

*~*~*

TBC

A/N: I apologize for any mistakes in this chapter, since I was sorta in a rush to post it. And there was some Kakashi… I promise he'll appear more in the next chapter!

Yeah, and Happy Birthday again to Angela and Patricia!

You rock! (sometimes)


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Don't own

A/N: I finally managed to finish this chapter! Finally, some more Kakashi. Enjoy! 

The Ninja Game

Chapter Four

Sara paced in the brightly lit hallways of the hospital, right outside the intensive care unit where the white-haired boy—Kakashi, she had found, was his name—was being treated. He had come out of surgery just a few hours ago and was still being closely monitored. Nurses and doctors had assured her that he would be fine eventually, but he wouldn't wake up for a while.

Greg had come a few hours ago, with a change of clothes for her. Sara was grateful for his thoughtfulness, since her own clothes had been taken in for evidence, and she was left wearing a blue CSI jumpsuit.

"Sorry, they need me back at the lab." He had said as he left. She had nodded and gone back to her pacing.

A nurse emerged from the intensive care room. "Can I see him yet?" Sara asked quickly.

"Sure, but he's still unconscious." The nurse replied, "He probably won't wake up for another day or so." Sara muttered a quick thanks before brushing past her into the room.

The boy was pale against the white sheets of the bed, and he looked small in the middle of all the various, beeping pieces of machinery that regulated his heartbeat and breathing, and the IV lines slowly dripping fluids into his system. His left arm was in a sling and rested on top of the covers. Sara sat down in a chair next to the bed and stared at the slow rise and fall of his chest.

"Poor kid." She murmured, taking out her kit. No matter what, she was still a CSI, and she had to do her job. Carefully, she started to process him, scraping under his fingernails, but there was nothing. Next, she took out her camera and snapped pictures of his injuries. She winced inwardly as she saw the scars that covered his body, most of them old injuries. Abused children were always a sore point with her, and she had no doubt that he was abused. How else would a kid his age get so many old wounds? She made a note to tell the child services about this later, but now she had to do her own job.

Last were his belongings. The hospital staff had placed all of his clothes in a bag and placed it in a corner of the room. Now, Sara opened the bag and started to rummage through the contents with gloved hands, searching for anything that resembled some type of identity. She took out the black mask that he had been wearing, her hands going over the dark cloth. It did not look like a child's toy, but a specially designed mask for something more professional. The thought of assassins leapt unbidden into her mind. What was a kid doing with a mask like this?

Sara placed it back into the bag and took out a pouch. The boy had a lot of pouches on his person, for some reason. Opening the pouch, she stared in shock at what was inside. She pulled out a knife made of dark metal and several small round bladed throwing stars. Under the florescent lights, Sara could see that the edges were dangerously sharp. A kid with deadly _weapons_? What the hell were his parents thinking?

Suddenly, Sara felt very tired, which was reasonable, considering that it was already the early hours of the morning, and she had not slept for almost twenty-four hours. Deciding that the evidence would not go anywhere, Sara took a seat beside the hospital beds. She looked at the small, pale boy under the sheets, _Just who are you?_ She wondered.

Of course, there was not reply except the slow, rhythmic sounds of his breathing. _But  
he's still just a kid._ Sara thought sadly. It always hurt for her when children were involved, reminding her of her own unhappy childhood. She held his hand, careful not to disturb the IV lines, and felt the reassuring warmth. She let it lull her to sleep.

*~*~*

Kakashi awoke to a large headache and the all too familiar smells of a hospital. _Where…?_ The last thing he remembered was the missing-nin leaving without killing him. _And then sensei came…_ He could feel something warm in his right hand, _…sensei?_

Slowly, he blinked his eyes open and found himself staring at the cream-colored ceiling. With a pang of annoyance, he realized that he was not wearing his mask. Turning, he saw that it was not his sensei who was holding his hand, but an unfamiliar woman, dozing in a chair by his hospital bed. Speaking of unfamiliar things, where was he?

He had been in the hospital in Konoha enough times to know what it looked like, and this was definitely not Konoha. Kakashi sat up quickly, then winced as the full impact of his injuries hit him. Out of habit, he started to assess his wounds, mentally calculation when he could get out of the hospital. Lots of scratches and bruises, but nothing major except the large, bandaged gash in his left shoulder, which still throbbed with a dull ache; nothing that would impede his movement too much, and with the help of his chakra, the injuries might even be healed in a week.

He carefully extracted his hand from the woman's, then froze. The woman stirred, and her eyes fluttered open. Catching sight of Kakashi, she immediately became fully alert, "You're awake?"

Kakashi immediately put on a wide-eyed, innocent expression. Better to let these people think that he was just a scared little kid, and not the competent, cool-headed shinobi that he was. "H-hai!"

"How do you feel? Are you okay?" Sara immediately rang for the nurse, who hurried in moments later and began to fuss over Kakashi.

"W-where is here?" he asked, allowing his anxiety to creep into his voice.

"You're in the hospital," Sara told him, "Don't worry, everything will be okay. I'm Sara Sidle from the Las Vegas crime lab," she smiled reassuringly. "I'm here to help you."

He did not reply, but stared at her with suspicion, wondering what in the world a 'crime lab' was. "What's your name?" she asked, trying to be friendly.

"Hatake Kakashi." He muttered, looking down and pretending to be shy.

"Kakashi," she said gently, "You're safe now. No one can hurt you here." He really doubted that a mere hospital would be able to keep the missing-nin out, but he nodded anyways.

"I need you to help me with something." She said. He did not reply, but resumed his look of scared innocence. "I want you to tell me exactly what happened last night."

"Don't know." The boy replied, trying his best to look confused. _As if you'd believe me if I told you the truth._

"Really, Kakashi?" Sara tried to be gentle; she knew that children were sometimes unwilling to recall traumatic events. "Could you think harder? This is really important."

Kakashi bit his lip, what was he going to say? That he was attacked by a missing-nin whom he was supposed to track down? But, being the child genius that he was, Kakashi quickly came up with a better idea. He scrunched his face up and started to cry. "Want sensei." he wailed, "Minato-sensei!"

As expected, the woman had no experience at all dealing with bawling children, and she immediately became flustered, "Don't cry, Kakashi, it's okay!" she soothed, but there was a desperate tone to her voice, "It's okay if you don't want to tell me yet. Just…don't cry. Please?"

He caught a glimpse of her panicked face between his fingers and had to suppress the sudden urge to smirk evilly. Adults were so easy to mess with. Kakashi softened his crying down to a sniffle, "Want sensei." he repeated stubbornly.

"I'll see what I can do." Sara replied. She had no idea who he was talking about, though she thought she had heard Greg mention that name when he stopped by. Kakashi nodded again, his sniffles dying down, playing the part of a placated child. Inwardly, he scowled, dissatisfied with her answer, but he knew better than to push it.

"Want to sleep." He said. And it was true, he was still tired, his injuries ached, and he wanted nothing more than to bury himself under the covers, even if they were smelly hospital sheets, and go to sleep. Hopefully by the time he woke up again, his sensei would find him.

Sara nodded, somewhat grateful after his outburst. "Okay, Kakashi. You can go to sleep. I'll come back at a later time, when you're not so tired, alright?"

The boy nodded, and she left the room quietly, closing the door behind her. As soon as she was out, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her meeting with the boy was not very informative, since he had refused to talk about his attacker. But that was to be expected after what he had experienced, and she could only wait until he was ready to talk about it.

*~*~*

Warrick was having trouble comprehending what his colleagues were telling him about the familiar blonde sitting cheerfully in the interrogation room. "But that's impossible!" he protested, "I know for a fact that he was on the other side of the city just a few minutes before. I know; I was with him."

Grissom listened to him gravely, "I don't doubt you, Warrick, but we really did pick him up at the crime scene."

"How could he travel halfway across the city in just minutes?" Warrick demanded, still unsatisfied. "Even if he broke all the speed limits he couldn't have done it."

Grissom rubbed his temples, "I don't know, Warrick. And he doesn't want to tell us either." At this the supervisor glanced back at the blonde sitting in the interrogation room, looking bored as Brass continued to question him. As if sensing his gaze, Minato suddenly looked up, staring at Grissom, even though he shouldn't be able to see anything through the two way mirror.

"So what are you going to do with him?" Warrick asked, "He's the only suspect in the case so far."

"He did seem concerned about the kid." Grissom argued.

"Or he could be looking for a chance to kill the only witness." Warrick retorted. Grissom sighed, "By law, we can keep him here for twenty-four hours. But if we can use the fight and your witnesses got into to our advantage and keep him for longer."

"Glad to know I'm good for something." Warrick said dryly. "Tell me when you find something."

Grissom nodded, just as Greg walked in, "Hey, I just came back from the hospital," he told them, "The kid got out of surgery, he'll be fine."

"That's good to hear."

"Yeah." Grissom agreed, "When will he wake up?"

"Dunno, but Sara's there processing him." Greg replied, "Gotta go, there's a mountain of work waiting for me back in my lab."

"Thanks, Greg. Now get to work."

The lab tech flashed a pleased grin at his supervisor and disappeared again in the direction of the DNA lab. Grissom turned his attention back to the questioning continuing on the other side of the glass. A smirk played at the edges of Minato's mouth, as if he had just heard some good news. A slight frown creased Grissom's forehead.

"Tell everyone to gather in the evidence room." He ordered. "We _will_ catch the killer."

*~*~*

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: sorry if this chapter is sort of boring. I wrote it to get a better view of things in the story; it's not that important. Except for the last part, read that.

The Ninja Game

Chapter Five

"We are going to review the cases for the Ripper murders."

Five people were gathered in the evidence room of the Las Vegas crime lab. Grissom surveyed his team proudly, four of the best CSIs in the state of Nevada; Warrick, Catherine, Nick, and Greg….wait, Greg? "What are you doing here, Greg?"

The lab tech looked up, his surprise evident on his face, "You called for everyone to meet you here." He said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I meant every CSI. You need to finish your work in the lab." Grissom said, a hint of exasperation in his voice. The other CSIs present looked amused, accustomed to the bantering between the youngest and oldest members of the lab.

"Come on, Gris! You know I can get all of that done in no time at all. Besides, I may be able to help you break the case again."

Grissom raised an eyebrow, "I'm sure you will Greg, as soon as you stop dying your hair and listening to rock music."

"Like that's ever going to happen." Catherine couldn't help interjecting.

"Exactly."

"Hey!" Greg exclaimed indignantly.

"Uh, guys? Let's get back on track here." Nick reminded them.

"Alright, then. Let's go over the cases again." Grissom said, pulling out the folder that contained all the information on the Ripper case. "The first murder-"

"Does that mean I can stay?" Greg interrupted eagerly. Grissom shot him a yes-so-shut-up-already look. Greg shut up, beaming.

"As I was saying, the first murder was three weeks ago." Grissom continued, pulling out the corresponding documents. "The victim's name was Samantha Walker, female, 23 years old, called in by her co-workers who noticed her missing at work. When the police arrived at her house, they found her front door broken down and her body on the living room floor.

"The coroner confirmed time of death the night before. Cause of death was…hard to determine, but finally set as massive blood loss from numerous lacerations all over her body. The body was so torn up, in fact, that it was impossible to identify by just looking at it." the CSIs present except for Grissom, who was jaded to these kinds of things, and Greg, who had never seen the body, shuddered at the memory.

"The strange thing about this case was that the house was flooded with water." Grissom continued, "But none of the sinks or faucets were on, and there were no busted pipes, and no fingerprints. And nothing of value was taken from the house.

"Now the questions we need to answer are: where did all the water come from? And why would the killer put that much water on the scene?"

"Maybe he wanted to clean up the scene?" Greg suggested.

"Then why leave the door open? And why not finish the job instead of leaving the water pooled on the ground?" Nick refuted.

Greg shrugged, "Maybe he was interrupted."

"Maybe you should wait until we hear the other cases." Catherine rebuked. The lab tech and CSI fell into a guilty silence.

"The second murder," Grissom continued, "Was that of Fanny Sumner, female, 36, killed two weeks ago. It was called in by her boyfriend, who came over to visit. Her body was also mutilated beyond recognition. Cause of death was confirmed as blood loss. The house was flooded with water, and the bedroom window was broken. Again, no fingerprints on the sinks or faucets, and no explanation for the water.

"The third victim was found last week, Martin Anderson, male, age 42, found by a neighbor who saw his front door broken down. Same cause of death, same water in the house, nothing taken from the house again.

"And the last victim, found just last night, was Kevin Mason, male, 30. He was found by his girlfriend when she came over. Again, same cause of death, same water, and same lack of motive."

"So basically, we have nothing." Warrick said. "No clues, no suspects, no motive."

"Well we have the blonde, whatshisname, Mee-na-toe or something." Greg said. The CSIs stared at him, "Sorry, I overheard you guys talking about him." the lab tech said sheepishly.

"Namikaze Minato," Grissom corrected. "He says he just got here last night, but I wouldn't take his word on it. We're still investigation him."

"Personally, I think he's crazy." Warrick said, earning him a disapproving look for the Grissom, "You've seen what he's like," Warrick insisted, "He talks about killing people as if it were commonplace! He threatened to kill that man in the picture he showed us."

"Yes, but we can't prove anything." Grissom replied. "All we have is his word, and any lawyer could get him off the hook by pleading mental instability."

"Really? He didn't look unstable when I saw him at the crime scene." Nick said. "He just looked concerned over the boy. Did you discover the boy's name yet?"

"His name is Kakashi." The supervisor answered. "And he is possible the fifth victim and only witness of the Ripper murders."

"Tough for a kid his age." Catherine commented.

"It's a tough world." Grissom replied.

"He's safe in the hospital, right?" Catherine asked. Grissom nodded, "There are five uniforms (A/N: cops) standing outside his door, and Sara is also with him. Now if I may continue with the report?"

"It's all yours."

"Thank you. As I was saying, there are several points on common with these cases. First, there is the water." Grissom said. Greg rolled his eyes, earning him a glare from the supervisor. "Secondly," Grissom pointedly ignored the lab tech, "There is the fact that all four victims were living alone, and the killer broke into the house to get to the victim. And third, nothing of value was taken from their houses, so we can rule out robbery in all four cases."

"There's no motive." Nick concluded. "And there're no similarities in the type of victim. Two men, two women, all different ages, different social classes. It's like he kills at random." He shook his head, "Don't serial killers usually have a method of selecting victims?"

"Theoretically, they do." Grissom answered. "And theoretically, serial killers escalate as they kill. The Ripper killer has only taken one victim every week, he's too punctual."

"So you're saying this case is an exception?" asked Warrick.

"Maybe. Maybe not. We still need more evidence before we can establish that for a fact."

"So what exactly do we have?" Nick wondered out loud.

"I have a theory." No one was surprised when the youngest of their group spoke up. Everyone turned to him expectantly, waiting as he paused dramatically, "I think that this could be a cult murder."

"What?" he asked, seeing their skeptical looks, "It's very possible. And it would give the killer a motive."

"But how does all the water fit in?" Nick asked.

"Um, maybe they worship a water god?"

"I don't think so, Greg." Grissom replied, "There are too many missing elements."

Greg shrugged, "Well, it was a good suggestion."

"And without evidence to support it, that's all it is. A suggestion." Grissom said, "But remember, we still have one more crime scene."

"The kid's scene." said Catherine. Grissom nodded, "What did you find?" he inquired.

"Not much, really." Catherine said, "There were a lot of these strange-looking knives, though." She pulled out a plastic bag from the evidence box, revealing a metal, diamond shaped throwing-knife with a ring on one end. The sides looked razor sharp.

"Yeah, and we managed to recover skin cells on most of them. They're in DNA right now." Nick added. "And they should be done by now." He glanced pointedly at Greg, who looked away sheepishly, "Yeah, I know. I'll get to it ASAP."

"Besides these, there's basically nothing else. But the scene was flooded with water again, and there was no apparent source." Nick added. "It's just like the other crimes."

"But this time the killer was interrupted." Grissom said. "Have you found the cause of the explosion?"

"Um, no." Catherine said. "Nothing at all to suggest an explosive, no scrap metal, no traces of explosive chemicals. But get this, the explosion that we heard, didn't happen on the ground." Grissom raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"It happened in a tree. Left branches strewn all over the place. And there was another throwing knife in the trees." Nick said, pulling out another throwing knife, black and singed.

"And going with that, we found more of these knives in the trees as well. There were about fifteen in total." Catherine added. Greg whistled, picking up one of them. "This looks dangerous. Think they could be the murder weapons?"

"No, there were no traces of blood on any of the weapons." Catherine shook her head. "And the weird thing is, based on the angle that these knives were embedded in the tree, they were thrown from somewhere level to the branches. No upward angle."

Grissom frowned, "So whoever threw these knives was standing in the treetops?"

"So maybe the killer was a ninja." Greg suggested. Everyone stared at him strangely. "Hey, just a joke!" he said, holding his hands up.

"Very funny, Greg." Grissom muttered, "But we have no time for jokes right now. There is possibly a killer on the loose. Nick, I want you to get a DNA sample of the suspect, and get Greg to compare it to the skin cells you found on these weapons. Warrick and I will try to sort through the rest of the evidence. Catherine will go to the hospital and help Sara with the boy's belongings. Greg, you get back to your lab and finish you the mountain of work you have waiting for you."

"Right on it, sir!" Greg said, backing out of the evidence room hastily.

"Alright, see ya, Gris." Catherine and Nick also left.

"We'd better get to work too." Grissom said. Warrick nodded, "Yeah." He said, "Let's."

*~*~*

After Sara left, Kakashi waited until the sound of her footsteps had disappeared before ripping off the wires that were attached to his body, monitoring his vital signals. The IV line in his hand went next, but he kept the sling, figuring that it would not hinder his movements too much. He had spotted a bag in a corner of the room, and he strongly suspected that his belongings were in there.

He stared mournfully at his torn and bloodstained clothes, especially his mask, which was now just a piece of cloth torn and ripped beyond recognition. At least he still had his weapons, which he gladly took and hid on his person, though it was hard to find suitable places to conceal them. How he hated hospital clothes; even in this foreign place they were loose with nowhere to store his kunai.

The first thing he had to do was contact his sensei. Kakashi made a few quick, practiced hand signals and bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood. Then, he bent down and pressed his hand to the ground. _Kuchiyose no Jutsu._

As his hand contacted the linoleum floor, streams of characters spread out from the point of contact, forming an intricate pattern. A puff of smoke later, there was a small, brown pug wearing a blue cape and a Leaf headband sitting in front of the silver-haired chunin.

"Pakkun." Kakashi greeted with a nod.

"Yo, Kakashi!" Pakkun barked, evidently happy to see the boy. "What happened to you?" (A/N: Obviously in Japanese, but I don't feel like italicizing it.)

"It's nothing." Kakashi answered vaguely, "Listen, Pakkun, I need you to do something for me."

"What is it, boss?" the pug asked obediently.

"Find sensei, and tell him this." Kakashi quickly relayed the details of his situation to the nin-dog. "And hurry."

"Hai," Pakkun nodded as Kakashi opened the window for him, "Take care of yourself, pup." He said with concern before leaping out of the open window and disappearing over the rooftops.

Kakashi watched him leave, slightly sad. Pakkun was his first summon ever, and he would have liked to spend some more time with the dog. But the mission always came first, he told himself firmly, the rest could wait.

Satisfied that he had found a way to locate his sensei, Kakashi returned to the hospital bed. He had not been lying when he had said he was tired, and he knew that rest was important if he wanted to recover quickly. So he pulled the covers over his head and soon drifted off into a light sleep.

*~*~*

TBC

A/N: I promise to update soon. School was cancelled today because of the weather  and I have more time to work on it. Review, please!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Don't own.

A/N: Just something to keep you going until next time. Have fun and review! Oh yeah, the conversations between Pakkun and Minato and Pakkun and Kakashi are in Japanese.

**The Ninja Game**

**Chapter Six**

Minato had to restrain himself from gutting these people who were bent on keeping him from finding Kakashi, but he forced himself to keep calm, remembering the shinobi rule number 25, _A shinobi should never show emotions on a mission_. But it was so hard to do if these people had no concern for their own well-being and insisted on annoying him by asking the same questions over and over about where he was from and what he was doing here.

"Where is Kakashi?" he asked again.

"Why don't you stop worrying about him and answer our questions?" the person Minato had established as the head interrogator retorted. A vein popped on the blonde's forehead, _Don't kill the civilian._ He told himself, _Hokage-sama wouldn't like that._ But frankly, at the moment he didn't really care what the Hokage would like.

_I wonder if anyone would notice if he died in his sleep one day._ The young jonin could only comfort himself with vengeful thoughts, since he still needed them to find Kakashi for him.

"You know what, this is getting nowhere." Brass finally exclaimed in exasperation. Minato never thought he'd agree with something these infuriating people said. "I leave now." He said, rising.

"I don't think so." Brass laid a restraining hand on the blonde's shoulder, "You're staying right here where we can keep an eye on you."

Minato glared at him frigidly, though he was still having trouble reining in his killing intent. However tempting it may be, he did not want to scare these people too much and jeopardize his chances of finding Kakashi. "You're staying because we have a witness that says you assaulted some drunks. That's enough for us to keep you here for at least three days." Brass informed him. "So get ready to spend some time in custody."

The blonde scowled, but did not argue. "Now get moving. Officers!" Brass gestured for the police officers who were standing outside the door, "Take him." he said.

Which was how Minato ended up in a small, locked cell. At least he still had his personal effects; he gave the policemen the coldest glare when they had tried to take his jonin vest, leaking killing intent all over. They had decided that maybe it was better for their own health if he kept the vest, after he had reassured them that he had no "gun". They had not asked about other weapons, so he had not bothered to inform them of his kunai and shuiken.

It wasn't a bad cell, but rather a relatively clean one. True, there were no windows, but Minato could easily have broken down the metal door. They had again made the mistake of not restraining him, but that was probably because he had been exuding a deadly aura of killing intention enough to cause one of the officers to nearly wet himself. Namikaze Minato was not pleased, to say the least.

About an hour after he had been thrown into the cell, another one of the strange people, not a "policeman", judging from his uniform, had introduced himself as "Nick Stokes, a CSI" and said that he had come to take a "DNA sample". After judging that the other man was not a threat, Minato allowed him to take the sample, which was basically, of all things, sticking a white cotton swab into his mouth.

What the other man planned to do with this swab was beyond the jonin, but he figured that since he did not have any Kekkei Genkai, it wouldn't hurt. Of course, he had given the man a glare that would have put Orochimaru to shame the whole time. Needless to say, the poor man had been more than happy to leave.

And that was two hours ago. The jonin was deciding between escaping through the door or breaking down the wall when he felt a chakra signal that he recognized approaching the cell. A puff of smoke materialized on the floor, dissipating to reveal a small, brown pug dog wearing a blue cape and a Leaf headband.

"Yo." Pakkun greeted. "It took me hours to find you. Finding your scent in a city full of this many people is not easy."

"Pakkun! What are you doing here?" Minato grinned widely. He never thought he'd be so happy to see the nin-dog. "How's Kakashi? Is he alright?"

"Hai, Kakashi is fine enough to summon me, he should be up and moving in a few days. He's in a bad-smelling hospital that's about twelve miles from here." Pakkun quickly delivered Kakashi's message and relayed his location to the jonin. "And now he's awaiting orders from you." The nin-dog finished.

"Ah, that's just like 'Kashi." Minato sighed. "Always practical." Pakkun nodded in agreement.

"Okay, Pakkun, tell him that I'll come pick him up, as soon as I get out of here. Tell him to rest for a minute, even geniuses have to sleep." Minato ordered.

"He won't like that." The pug said dryly.

"Nope. But that's why I'm telling him to wait. 'Sides, it'll be a good experience for him to wait." Minato said, "And I'm worried about the missing-nin, but don't tell him I said that."

Pakkun shrugged, "You're the boss." The small nin-dog disappeared again with another puff of smoke, leaving the jonin alone in the room. He stood up and stretched; he had finally decided which escape route to use. A mischievous grin that would have made his sensei proud spread across his face. Time to get to work…

*~*~*

"Hry, pup, wake up! I'm back!"

Kakashi's eyes snapped open at the sound of Pakkun's voice, and he sat up rubbing his eyes. "What did Minato-sensei say?" he asked, checking himself over once more. He was pleased to find that the scratches had mostly healed, and his left arm was not as sore, though he knew he would not be able to use it properly for at least three more days.

"Minato-san says to wait for him here." The pug replied, leaping up onto the boy's lap.

Kakashi frowned, a serious expression for a nine-year-old. "But-"

"He says it'll be a good experience for you to wait." Pakkun interrupted. Kakashi's frown turned into a scowl. "Fine."

"You should rest, Kakashi." Pakkun admonished. "You don't look that great."

"I'm fine." Kakashi snapped, but his scowl softened. Pakkun took this as a good sign and licked his face, causing the boy to let out a small giggle before catching himself and covering his mouth, glaring at the pug, who just grinned, his tongue lolling out.

"Who's there?!" Both Kakashi and Pakkun spun to face the door at the sound of the loud voice. The door was opened, revealing the concerned faces of Sara and another, blonde woman.

*~*~*

When the Catherine arrived, Sara was waiting in the hospital reception area, dozing off. "Hi, Sara." Catherine greeted, smiling as the younger CSI jerked awake.

"Catherine! What are you doing here?"

"Grissom sent me to help you here. You've already seen the boy, right?"

Sara nodded, "Yeah, I was there when he woke up." She answered. Catherine looked interested, "And how was he?"

"Um, physically, he should be fine eventually." Sara said. The child service agent waited for her to continue. "He has…scars." Sara finally said.

"Scars? From an previous accident, or…"

"They don't look like they're from an accident." Sara replied quietly. Catherine nodded in sympathy. "Do you know anything about his parents?"

"Um, I really don't know that much about him. But I think he lives with his 'sensei'. He's not from around here." Sara explained.

"Ah, his sensei is being uncooperative." Catherine informed her, "He's still our only suspect."

The two of them made their way to the boy's room. Outside the door, Sara suddenly froze. There were voices coming from inside the room. _What the-_

One of the voices sounded like Kakashi, but the other was unfamiliar. It was a rough voice, not like any of the doctors Sara had met, definitely male, with a certain dog-like quality about it. And, to Sara, it did not sound very friendly. Sara's hand twitched towards her holster before she remembered that she had left her gun at the front desk, as firearms were not allowed inside the hospital. So there was only one thing she could do.

"Who's there!?" she shouted loudly, pushing the door open abruptly in hopes of scaring off the intruder. Inside the room, two pairs of surprised eyes turned to stare at her.

Pakkun looked curiously at the two women who stood in the doorway, their expressions turning from concern to confusion.

"Yo-" he started to greet them, but was cut off abruptly as Kakashi's hand closed over his mouth, muffling whatever greetings he was going to say next.

Sara blinked, thoroughly confused. First, how the hell did a _dog_ get into Kakashi's room? She was sure the policemen on the floor were specifically ordered not to let anyone in. And secondly, did the dog just _talk_? Her confusion deepened as she saw Kakashi whisper something quickly into the dog's ear, and she could have sworn that the dog nodded very slightly before the boy slowly released the hand he had placed over its muzzle.

"Kakashi?" she asked carefully.

"H-hai?"

"Was there anyone else in this room recently who just left?"

"N-no." Kakashi's eyes were widened in what he hoped was an innocent expression. He was mentally cursing himself for not noticing the approaching chakra signals, or hearing the footsteps.

"Are you sure?" she asked again. Kakashi nodded firmly. Technically, he was telling the truth since Pakkun had not left.

"Hi," the other woman who had come in with Sara spoke up, "My name is Catherine Willows, and I am a CSI, like Sara." Kakashi regarded this new arrival cautiously, careful to maintain his innocent-child façade.

"Your name is Kakashi, right?" Catherine asked kindly, and Kakashi nodded. Really, how many times did these people have to ask him that question?

"Kakashi, I see you have a dog?" she prodded.

"Pakkun." Kakashi replied, rather proudly.

"And how did 'Pa-koon' get here?" Sara asked. The dog mentally winced at the mutilation of his name, but refrained himself from correcting her. Kakashi had told him that the people here were evidently not used to talking dogs, and he idly wondered where they had lived all their lives if they hadn't even seen a summon with the power of speech. Sure, the people he had asked had given him weird looks when he had asked around, then ignored him as if he were just a figment of their imagination, but he had attributed that to his innate ability to awe whoever saw him.

"Um…" Kakashi looked down guiltily. What should he tell them?

"It's okay, you won't be punished, Kakashi." Sara soothed, mistaking his hesitation for fear. But he shook his head, figuring it was safer to keep quiet. Catherine gave Sara a warning look, and she decided to take another approach.

"Kakashi, this nice lady over here," Sara gestured towards Catherine, "Is here to help you." Catherine smiled kindly, extending a hand. Kakashi stared at it, but did not take it.

"Hello, Kakashi." She greeted.

"H-hello." The boy muttered.

"You're a cute boy, aren't you?" Catherine commented, in an attempt to be kind. Kakashi scowled, he hated being called cute! Pakkun was trying hard to stifle his laughter, managing to make only a sniggering sound, which drew stares nonetheless.

"Not cute!" Kakashi snapped. Pakkun's repressed laughter intensified, and Sara stared harder. Was that dog _laughing_? The laughter stopped abruptly as Kakashi tugged hard on the pug's cape, choking him. _Don't make me do it_. Pakkun grumbled but fell silent.

"Not cute-boy!" Kakashi repeated, glaring at Pakkun. Sara had to laugh at the sight of the kid talking to his dog as if it could understand. But then again, all kids were like that, and she was actually glad he seemed to show signs of normality.

"Okay, okay, not cute." Catherine corrected herself, smiling too. "So where did you come from, non-cute Kakashi?"

"Vee-laj." He stumbled slightly over the word, and Sara suppressed a wince at the mutilation of her language. "You mean village?"

"Hai." He nodded, glad that she had understood. He would never get used to this weird, foreign language that sounded so different from his own.

"A village where? Was it in China? Japan?" asked Sara. His language sounded oriental, maybe some South-Asian country?

"Hid-en Vee-laj." Kakashi elaborated. Not much help, but that was what he had intended. His hands absently scratched Pakkun behind the ears, and the social worker looked down at them. They were pale and, to her surprise, calloused, and there was a thin white scar running across the back of it, as if he had been cut by something sharp.

"Where did you get that scar?" Sara asked. Kakashi looked down at his hand in surprise. The scar was actually a reminder from a training session a long time ago when he was still in the academy, but Kakashi did not think that they would believe him.

"Don' know." He said stubbornly, shaking his head.

The two women looked at each other, then turned back to the boy. "Kakashi, do you live with your sensei?" Sara asked. The boy nodded.

"What about your parents?" Catherine asked, "Your mother, or father?"

Kakashi's hands froze on Pakkun's head, and the dog looked up at him in concern. The boy adverted his gaze, "Dead." He replied flatly. Sara was abruptly reminded of her own parents, who had not been very good parents, to say the least. A feeling of sympathy rose inside her, and she suddenly had the urge to go over and hug the boy.

"How did they die, Kakashi?" Catherine pressed, "Did they-" Pakkun's growl stopped her mid-sentence.

"Just…dead." Kakashi answered tersely, unable to prevent a hard edge from entering his voice. "Want sensei." he insisted again, this time in a more childish tone. Pakkun barked and licked his face, as if comforting him.

"Did your sensei give you that scar?" Catherine asked abruptly. Kakashi's face darkened. "Iie." He answered resolutely, shaking his head. He, being the genius that he was, knew exactly where this was headed, and he was shocked that they would think his sensei was that kind of person. Did he really look that evil?

Catherine looked surprised, "Kakashi," she said gently, "We can help you find a new home if you don't want to-"

"No!" Kakashi was adamant, even though his sensei sometimes behaved childishly, making Kakashi feel like the only adult on their team, but his sensei was not irresponsible. "Want sensei."

"I'm sorry, Kakashi but-" Sara was interrupted by the sound of two pagers ringing urgently. She looked at Catherine, whose pager was also ringing.

"Kakashi, we need to do something important right now." Catherine explained as she and Sara headed out of the room, "But if you need anything, just call one of the nurses."

"Hai." Kakashi replied obediently, though he had no intention of obeying.

*~*~*

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Don't own.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews! I posted this chapter a bit late because I was studying for a test ,but I hope it's worth the wait. Enough said, on with the story!

**The Ninja Game**

**Chapter Seven**

"You're right, he is crazy." Nick announced as he walked through the door of the evidence room. "I just went to collect his DNA sample. He was glaring at me the whole entire time, as if he wanted to kill me." The CSI shivered, remembering the glare and the feeling that he was near something dangerous, like a time bomb about to explode. And he did not want to be there when it did.

"Yeah, I told you." Warrick couldn't help saying.

"I hope you gave the sample to Greg for comparison." Grissom replied, not looking up from his work.

"Of course, boss."

"Then you can help us with the evidence now." The supervisor instructed. Nick nodded, glad to have something to get his mind off of the cold feeling that still remained.

The minutes ticked by, then hours, but no one said a word.

"Be careful, even the tiniest piece of evidence can help in an investigation." Grissom's voice broke the silence as he reminded them. Again.

"Yeah, and that's the thirtieth time you've told us that." Warrick complained, "We'd better find something soon. My eyes are hurting already from staring at this evidence."

Nick was about to reply when the door to the evidence room banged open. "You won't believe what I found!" Greg blurted excitedly, waving a few sheets of paper in their faces.

"Calm down, Greg." Grissom ordered, always the rational one, "And tell us what you've got. Slowly, please."

"Well, there's good news and bad news." Greg started.

"Just tell us." Warrick sighed. Though he did welcome the break from staring at the evidence, he was not in the mood for Greg's antics. The lab tech pouted a bit, but got on to business.

"I found two different DNA samples on the weapons that Nick and Cath collected." He informed them, "But none of them matched the suspect."

"So there were two unknown assailants?" Nick concluded.

"Not quite."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I compared one of the samples to the victim's blood that was collected at the scene. Guess what? It matches." Greg waited breathlessly for this to sink him.

Grissom had looked up from the evidence, and was frowning, deep in thought. "So you're saying that not only was the killer standing in a tree and throwing knives around, but _Kakashi_ was also throwing them back?"

"I know, right? But I went over the results three times, and that's what I'm telling you. It's a logical conclusion supported by the evidence." Greg said, nodding.

"No, it's not logical, only supported by evidence." Warrick interjected. "How in the world would a kid even _get_ these weapons, let along throw them?"

"And besides that, Cath and I found these knives embedded really deep into the tree. You'd have to have a lot of upper body strength to throw one of them that hard." Nick added, "No kid could have done that."

"Well, then how else would you explain his DNA on these knives?" Greg retorted.

"We don't know yet. Maybe it's transfer from something earlier." Grissom answered. "But it's too early to draw a conclusion. I want you to-"

Before the supervisor could finish his instructions, he was interrupted by the sound of his pager ringing. He held up a hand, telling the others to wait, and answered it. "Hello?" as he listened to the person on the other end, his face grew grave. "Alright, I understand. I'll be right over."

"That didn't sound good." Greg commented, curiosity evident on his face.

"It wasn't. The suspect just escaped from the holding cell." Grissom said. "Call Sara and Catherine. We have a potentially dangerous suspect loose."

*~*~*

Kakashi jumped out of the hospital bed as soon as he saw the door close. There was no way he was staying, "Let's go now, Pakkun." He said.

"Alright." Pakkun agreed, sensing Kakashi's discomfort. The boy nodded and quickly made his way to the bag with his belongings in it. He changed back into a chunin uniform as fast as his arm would allow, not bothering with his ripped mask. At least it would be easier to move in than the hospital clothes.

The ninja and nin-dog made their way to the window, and Kakashi leaped lightly onto the windowsill, perched for a moment on the edge of the three-story drop. "Let's go find sensei." he said, and stepped out of the open window.

*~*~*

Minato could not believe how easy it was to break out of the so-called holding cell. A simple genjutsu to make the room appear empty, and the first person to check on him opened the door of the apparently empty cell. The blonde jonin hiding behind the illusion grinned and stepped past, escaping right under their noses.

Of course, the law enforcement was not completely incompetent and raised the alarm as soon as he was gone. But this obstacle was easily taken care of as Minato henge-ed himself into one of the "police officers" who worked there. No one noticed as he casually walked out the doors. He shook his head as he walked away, resisting the urge to laugh and give himself away, though it might be worth it just to see the looks on their faces.

Except Kakashi was waiting for him. With a small smile pulling at the edges of his mouth, Minato set out to find this hospital. To find Kakashi at last.

*~*~*

"What!?" Sara exclaimed loudly, drawing quite a few disapproving stares and shushing motions from the other occupants of the hallways. "He escaped?" she asked, softer, but no less incredulous.

"How could you let him escape? I've seen the scars this kid has, and I can tell you that that blonde 'sensei' is not a good person." Sara fumed quietly.

"Tell that to the police." Grissom's voice said on the other end, "But be careful, he might be looking for Kakashi now."

"I know, don't worry. Cath and I just went in to check on him." Sara reassured. "Should we tell Kakashi about this?"

"I don't think there's any need at the moment." Grissom answered. "Namikaze would have to be stupid to go find his student right away."

"Right." Sara said.

"Have you gotten anything about the attacker from Kakashi yet?"

"No. But I did find out that his parents are dead."

"Sara." Grissom cautioned, recognizing the edge to her voice.

"And now he's living with that bastard who calls himself his sensei and-"

"Sara!" Grissom's voice was sharper now, reprimanding her, "You know that we can't get personally involved with the victims, so just calm down now. Take a deep breath."

Sara inhaled deeply, "Sorry." she apologized, "It's just that, he sort of reminds me of myself."

"I understand. But the most important thing right now is to find the killer. Were you able to get his clothes from the hospital?" Grissom asked, trying to take her mind off of the matter.

"Yeah, they're in his room. I'll get Catherine to bring them to you."

"Sure." Grissom paused, "There's something you should know." He said, "We've found a…lead on the boy's case."

Sara's eyes widened, "Really?"

"Yeah, but it's…unusual."

"Grissom, just cut to the chase."

So he told her. About the boy's skin cells on the knife. And the strange angle of the knife embedded in the tree that pointed at a very strange truth. The thought of the throwing knives she had seen among the boy's belongings. She listened in silence, and then "There's got to be some kind of mistake."

"I thought so too Sara."

"Maybe Greg got the samples mixed up, or maybe the boy was trying to fight back-"

Grissom sighed, "I thought about that too, but there was no evidence to support that these knives were thrown in defense, and, though I'd hate to admit it in front of him, Greg isn't the type to make mistakes."

Sara contemplated it silently for a moment, "So what does this mean?"

"I don't know, Sara." Grissom's voice sounded strangely tired on the phone, "I don't know."

*~*~*

Kakashi stepped lightly off of the wall, releasing the chakra that attached him to the wall. Fortunately, there was no one to see him in the small alleyway where he ended up, or he would have a very stunned civilian wondering how in the world a boy could effortlessly down a sheer ninety-degree wall.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Pakkun, who had followed him down the wall, "The missing-nin is still out there, we really should wait until Minato-"

"No." Kakashi interrupted, "Let's go."

"Follow me." The small pug sighed, starting off. Kakashi nodded and fell into step behind the nin-dog. The two of them exited the alleyway and walked onto the street, into the crowd of people. Cars blew past in the street, people pushed past each other on urgent errands with their heads down, and no one gave a second glance to the silver-haired boy in a slightly torn, long-sleeved black shirt, following a small, brown pug dressed in blue.

But suddenly Pakkun froze in his tracks, raising his head in the air as if to sniff for something. The pug spun around quickly, "Kakashi! Watch out!" The boy turned around, following Pakkun's gaze. But it was too late.

"Found you, brat." A deep voice said next to his ear. A familiar voice he had heard in the darkness just the day before.

Kakashi's instincts immediately kicked in, and his hand flew to the kunai he had hidden, drawing the weapon. _Why didn't I sense him before?_

"I don't think so." A hand closed around Kakashi's wrist with an iron grip, preventing him from reaching his concealed weapons. _He must have hidden his chakra._

"Chikuso!" Kakashi swore, realizing that he could not use his left arm. Pakkun growled menacingly at the missing-nin, drawing several fearful looks from people passing by.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The missing-nin threatened. Pakkun leapt up, aiming for the missing-nin's throat, only to be smacked aside by a powerful blow from the enemy. Pakkun slammed into the wall, then flopped onto the ground, dazed. "Stupid mutt."

People in the streets seemed to have noticed that something was not right. After all, the large man would have to be a bad guy if he went around kicking puppies and threatening little boys. They started shouting in their own language, something that the missing-nin could not understand. The missing-nin scowled, "Shut up!" he roared, shocking everyone into a second of stunned silence.

Kakashi took the chance to elbow him in the stomach with his left arm, and despite the sling, he managed to put in enough force to cause the missing-nin's grip on his right wrist to loosen a fraction. Wrenching his hand free, the boy started to run. He knew there was no way he could hope to hold the missing-nin off, especially with his current injured status.

But unfortunately for him, the missing-nin recovered more quickly than he had expected. "Freakin' brat!" the Kiri-nin shouted. Moving faster than Kakashi could see, he appeared in front of the surprised boy, a menacing scowl on his scarred face. "If I didn't need you, you'd be dead by now." He growled.

Vaguely, Kakashi heard the sound of Pakkun's whimpering, but a sudden pain erupted in the back of his head, and the world faced to black as he fell into unconsciousness.

*~*~*

Call it woman's intuition, but Sara had a very bad feeling that something had gone terribly wrong. The first clue had been the only suspect—Namikaze Minato—escaping from his holding cell, right from under the noses of the police. The second clue was the confusing evidence that Grissom had told her about, the seemingly impossible story that it told. And there was always the question of how that dog—Pakkun—got into the room without the guards seeing.

She flipped her phone shut with a sigh. Looking up, she saw Catherine walking past quickly. "I gotta go." Catherine said apologetically, "Grissom needs me back at the lab to help process the scene."

"You'd better take the boy's clothes with you." Sara said, "They may contain vital evidence."

Catherine nodded, "Let's go get it."

As the two of them made their way to the boy's room, Sara's feeling of unease grew. Catherine noticed that something was off, "What's the matter?" she asked.

"Nothing," Sara shook her head as if that would clear away the confusion, "It's just-" She pushed open the door and froze, her eyes widening in shock. "Oh, God." Catherine muttered.

The room was empty, both Kakashi and the dog Pakkun were gone. And the open window seemed to mock them, the curtain flapping wildly in the wind.

*~*~*

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: thanks for all the reviews! Here's the next chapter, enjoy!

**The Ninja Game**

**Chapter Eight**

Minato had a bad feeling as he neared the hospital. The feeling intensified as he realized that he could not sense Kakashi's chakra. "I'm sure this is the place Pakkun was talking about." He muttered to himself, "So where are they?"

For some reason, there were a lot of people running around, shouting loudly in their foreign language that Minato could barely understand. He thought he caught the some words, "crazy" which he had heard some people mutter about him, and "criminal" and "poor kid". These meant nothing to him, yet he could not help the feeling of growing apprehension.

"Minato!" a strained voice suddenly caught his attention, and he turned to see Pakkun staggering towards him, looking slightly dazed and very anxious.

"What happened, Pakkun?" Minato asked, seriously alarmed now. So his gut feeling had been right, something had happened to Kakashi, who would never abandon one of his nin-hounds.

"I'm sorry!" the pug whimpered, "I tried to help…"

"What happened?" Minato asked again, bending down to pick up the dog.

"It was the missing-nin." Pakkun whispered. Minato's eyes widened. "He hid his chakra. We didn't sense him until…" he trailed off, looking miserable and guilty.

"It's not your fault." Minato said mildly, yet it seemed to reassure Pakkun. Minato hesitated slightly before asking the next question. "Is Kakashi-?"

"I don't know. The missing-nin took him." said Pakkun. "He said he needed Kakashi for something."

Minato's mouth tightened, and he stiffened visibly, the only two signs of the conflicting emotions he felt inside. "Can you track them?" he asked simply. But there was a hard edge to his voice, one that Pakkun had never heard before and hoped never to hear again.

"I'll try."

*~*~*

"Call 911!" Catherine instructed as soon as they had taken in the scene of the empty room. But Sara had already taken out her phone and was currently in the process of calling for help. While her colleague quickly explained the situation to the operator on the other end, Catherine rushed to the window. Looking down at the pavement, she almost sighed in relief when she saw nothing on the concrete below. But that still did not explain where the boy had gone. Or how.

A flash of blonde in the crowd caught her attention. Catherine's eyes widened as she recognized the face the hair belonged to. "Sara!" she said urgently, "Sara, you'd better come see this."

Sara hurried over to see what Catherine was pointing at, and her eyes widened as well. "Is that who I think it is?" she asked in a subdued voice.

"Yeah. Call dispatch, and notify Grissom." Catherine said, her eyes never leaving the spot of bright yellow. Though she could not tell what the man was doing from her position, she recognized that face and that unforgettable blonde hair.

"How did he get here so fast?" Sara whispered, "We were just informed of his escape, and the police station is miles from here."

"I don't know, but this makes him very suspicious." Catherine replied, "And we need to let the others know as soon as possible."

Sara nodded, dialing another number on her pager. "Dispatch, this is CSI Sidle," it was all she could do to keep her voice from wavering "We have another problem."

*~*~*

Grissom's expression darkened as he listened to Sara on the other end of the phone, and the others in the evidence room listened with bated breath. "Okay, I understand. You two stay where you are. Let the police take care of the rest." He ordered.

There was a slight pause as he listened to something Sara replied, but none of the others could hear what it was. Grissom's frown deepened, "No, Sara. Listen to me. I know it's hard, but there is nothing you can do by yourself now, so just wait for the police to come."

He snapped the phone shut and turned to the rest of the team, who had been waiting impatiently for his explanation. "Our only witness," he announced solemnly, "has just disappeared from the hospital. And the only suspect has been spotted just outside the hospital."

"What!?"

"No way!" Nick said, "He was here just ten minutes ago, there's no way he could have gotten there this quickly!"

"He was discovered missing ten minutes ago. We have no idea how long he was actually gone." Grissom corrected. "He could have escaped before then."

"So what do we do now?" asked Warrick, his frustration evident in his voice.

"We do nothing." Grissom continued hurriedly before the protests began, "We can do nothing to help them there, the police are already on their way to the hospital. The boy was kidnapped, so there is still a chance he may be alive. After all, why kidnap someone just to kill them?" Grissom waited a moment for his words to sink in, before taking a deep breath. "Right now, the only thing we can do is to try and find a clue with what we already have."

Nick and Warrick nodded, "I don't like this, but you're right." Warrick muttered. "Let's get to work."

*~*~*

Minato followed Pakkun as the dog weaved through the crowds, pausing here and there to sniff for a bit before continuing. He knew it was not easy to track one scent through all the different ones in the city, but he couldn't help but feel impatient.

As the minutes ticked by, he could only think that the possibility of finding Kakashi unharmed was growing inevitably smaller, and it was all his fault. If only he hadn't allowed Kakashi to come on this mission, if only he hadn't split up, if only he had come sooner…

Pakkun suddenly stopped, jerking the jonin out of his guilty thoughts. They had come to a halt right before a large river. "The scent ends here." Pakkun said, growling in frustration. The missing-nin was sly, making his way across the water where his scent would be washed away in seconds, gone with the current and all their hopes of tracking him down. Minato cursed.

"So what now?" Pakkun asked plaintively, looking towards the jonin as if he could give some clue as to where Kakashi was.

Minato's expression was one of frustrated rage mixed with worry. Faced with the vast size of the strange city and the unfamiliar buildings, machines, and people, Minato felt utterly helpless for the first time in his life.

But, helpless or not, Minato was not one to give up so easily. He closed his eyes, thinking hard. "We need someone who's familiar with the territory." He said to Pakkun, who was listening intently.

"And in know just the place to look."

*~*~*

After three hours, it was all the CSIs could do to keep themselves from pulling out their hair in frustration. Three hours of combing through every single piece of evidence and there was—nothing, not a single unusual print, a single piece of hair that should not have been there.

Sara had reported that there was no evidence of anything unusual in the hospital room, and the scent dogs that the police had brought had found nothing. Brass was still on the scene, questioning the witnesses. Catherine, who had been processing the holding cell Minato had escaped from, also came up blank. It was as if he had just…evaporated. But Grissom had said that it was a molecular impossibility when Greg had suggested it.

"Like everything else in this case." The lab tech had retorted. Grissom had no answer to this, but told him curtly to get back to work instead.

"You know," Greg said over his shoulder as he left, "I've heard that ninjas can teleport without leaving a trace." Grissom sighed as the door closed behind the lab tech, but there was a hint of a smile tugging at the edge of his mouth.

"Hey Gil! I think I found something." Catherine's exclamation broke the silence that had descended on the group. Everyone immediately gathered around her, staring at the photo that she was holding. It was a picture of the first crime scene, a familiar sight complete with the bloody water staining the floor in pools, and the mutilated corpse in the middle of it all.

"What did you notice?" Nick asked, "I've looked at that same picture a million times and it looks the same every time."

"Then you haven't looked close enough." Catherine said. "Look here." She pointed to something on the wall of the house, a faint patch of red on the white painted walls.

"I remember that blood splatter." Nick said. "We tested it; it's the victim's blood."

"That's exactly the problem!" Catherine said triumphantly, "That 'blood splatter' is completely out of place. The body is too far for it to have gotten there from splatter. It had to have gotten there ."

Nick's eyes widened, "How could we have missed that?"

"Do we have any individual pictures of this?" Grissom asked.

"Of course." Warrick rummaged through the file and finally pulled out some more photographs, all of the same splatter that wasn't a splatter on the wall. "But it got soaked along with everything else in the house, so it's a little blurry."

The red pattern was indeed blurry; half had already washed away with the water. At first sight it could easily be mistaken as a normal bloodstain, which was what they had assumed it to be, but now they could make out an indistinct pattern.

"That looks like…a sigil of some sort." Nick commented.

"If it's here," Grissom thought out loud, "then it should be at the other scenes as well. Start looking."

Immediately, the CSIs fell onto the other boxes of evidence, digging out the pictures of the other crime scenes and pouring over them with a newfound energy. It did not take them long to locate three other similar markings at each of the other three crime scenes. It was finally the lead that they had been looking for, but…

"What is it?" Nick voiced the question that had been on all of their minds.

"It's been contaminated by the water, almost impossible to tell." Catherine groaned in frustration. Grissom frowned, "It looks like a sigil of some sort." He observed, "Written in the victim's own blood."

"So it is possible that this is a cult murderer." Catherine said. Grissom nodded.

"Well, I'll go look up possible organizations." Nick said, grabbing one of the photos.

"The rest of us will look for more evidence." Grissom instructed. "There has to be something more in here."

*~*~*

_Drip…_

_Drip…drip…_

The rhythmic sound of falling water was the first thing Kakashi heard as consciousness returned, along with an onslaught of disoriented confusion, _Where am I_? The first thing he noticed when he opened his eyes was the darkness; it had been afternoon when he had left the hospital. _How long have I been out?_

A few seconds later the pain in his shoulder flared up suddenly, and he bit back a pained moan. It wasn't just his shoulder, his whole body ached as if he had just fallen off the Hokage tower. Or somehow gotten on the wrong side of Tsunade, who wasn't adverse to punishing "disobedient brats" who didn't like staying put in hospitals.

It was dark, wherever he was. And damp; Kakashi could feel the moisture in the air, and on the wall he was leaning against. That was not surprising, since the missing-nin was from the Mist. So he was probably being kept somewhere near a river or some other water source, which would have washed away his scent already. He could only hope that his sensei would realize it. Through the darkness, he could barely make out the outlines of an empty chamber and walls made of stone and plaster, wet with condensation.

He tried to reach for his weapons, but found that he couldn't; his arms were pinned to his sides with steel wire, effectively preventing any movement. His legs too were bound together in the same manner. This wasn't the first time he found himself in a sticky situation, but never in such an unfamiliar country. The sound of a door opening, echoed through the empty room, accompanied by the almost blinding glare of a lamp.

"Awake?"

The cold, ominously familiar voice jerked him out of his thoughts, and he glanced up swiftly, blinking through the brightness of the lamp, trying to ignore the cold feeling settling in his gut. It was the missing-nin, leaning casually on the only door in the room. Kakashi stiffened instinctively, but this only seemed to add to the missing-nin's amusement.

"Good, it'll make things more interesting." The mist-nin continued, disregarding the boy's lack of response.

"What are you doing here? Two Konoha shinobi don't just come here for vacation." The missing-nin asked sarcastically. Kakashi remained silent, glaring at the missing-nin with a look that clearly said he could shove his questions you-know-where. The mist-nin's expression changed to a scowl, "Answer the question, brat." He growled. Again, no response.

The missing-nin was across the room in a flash, standing in front of Kakashi, who couldn't help flinching back at the suddenness of the approach. A hint of satisfaction appeared in his face, and he grabbed the boy's silvery strands, pulling his face back forcefully and drawing a wince of pain. Kakashi knew better than to anger the man with insults, but his silence seemed to have the same effect.

"I'm not a patient man." The missing-nin warned. "Tell me."

"No."

The missing-nin's eyes narrowed. A fist suddenly slammed into Kakashi's abdomen, causing him to let out a gasp of pain and surprise, his body arching back from the force of the blow. "Don't try me." There was a dangerous undertone to the missing-nin's voice. It was unmistakably the voice of someone who had killed many times before, without mercy and without hesitation.

Beads of sweat broke out on Kakashi's forehead as he gasped for air. There was something warm and sticky flowing down his arm; blood from his shoulder wound, which had torn open again. A cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach; this man could break him, Kakashi knew. But still-

"No." he repeated, defiantly. He closed his eyes, waiting for the anticipated pain.

Instead, the missing-nin sighed and released his grasp on Kakashi's hair, allowing the boy's head to fall back down onto his chest. "It doesn't matter." Said the missing-nin dismissively, "Whoever your companion is, he won't be here in time."

Kakashi opened his eyes again to glare at his captor, "He will." His voice sounded childish, almost fearful to his own ears. At this, the missing-nin laughed outloud, a harsh, scornful sound. "By midnight, the ceremony will be complete. Then, even the Hokage himself will not be able to stop me."

The silver-haired chunin stared, _Ceremony?_ The missing-nin seemed to sense his unvoiced question, "There's no need to worry yourself about it." He said, "You'll find out soon enough."

And then he rose, opening the door to leave. "I have preparations to make."

The door closed behind him, leaving Kakashi in the dark once more. The boy slumped against the wall as soon as the sound of footsteps disappeared. Alone in the dark, tied up, with noting but the sound of water dripping and the feeling of his blood slowly clotting again, Kakashi wished miserably for someone, preferably sensei, to find him.

Find him before midnight.

*~*~*

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait; my schedule was very messed up this week, and I had a minor case of writer's block. But no worries, I've finally finished this chapter! 

**The Ninja Game**

**Chapter Nine**

"There. The woman with the brown hair. She's talking on the phone." Pakkun pointed towards the woman in question, "Her name is 'Sa-ra' I think."

Minato nodded, "Wish me luck." He muttered, and then stepped out from the corner he had been hiding behind into the street.

He did not feel nervous, at least not the nervousness he felt the day of his jonin exam, or on his first S-ranked mission. But there was a slightly apprehensive part of him, though if it rose from fear or something else, he could not tell. He was, after all, going back into the tiger's den, back into enemy territory, albeit an incompetent enemy.

The best way to find Kakashi, he reasoned, is to work together with these people. At least they know the city better than he did, an expertise he desperately needed now. And who knows what other gadgets they had here that they did not have back in Konoha. The woman lowered her phone from her ear and snapped it shut with a click. Minato took a deep breath and started to walk towards her. She was his best choice, partly because she seemed to care most about Kakashi according to Pakkun's reports, and she was probably the only one that he had yet to meet and therefore was probably not greatly suspicious or scared half to death of him.

As he approached, she looked up, her eyes widening. He gave her his best friendly smile, "Ano-" he began, but was cut off as she started backing away, reaching down towards her belt for a weapon.

"You!" she said, her eyes widening in recognition and no small amount of alarm. She had pulled her weapon from its holster in her belt. It was a black, metal, strangely-shaped weapon that Minato had never seen before, but he was sure it wasn't pleasant. So much for peaceful negotiations.

Now, she pointed the metal weapon at him, and he could see a small hole in the end of the weapon. He had seconds to react, but he was not called the Yellow Flash for nothing. Before Sara could lift the safety, he had disappeared. She blinked in confusion, just as a hand closed over his mouth, and she felt a strong arm around her waist.

Then the world disappeared in a dizzying blur.

"Gomen." Minato apologized as he put Sara down on the roof of the nearest building. He did not like using force, but he did not have time to explain things calmly. Sara stood up unsteadily, disoriented from Minato's speed and the suddenness of the move. Her first reaction, of course, was to reach for her gun, but she found nothing; Minato had been smart enough to leave it behind. She cursed, just her luck to be kidnapped by the same dangerous suspect that had managed to escape from under the noses of the police.

"What do you want?" she asked, watching him warily.

"Gomen! Ah, I…sor-ry." he corrected, "But I need you to help." he held up his hands to show that he was unarmed. He hoped that she didn't know he knew over a dozen different ways to kill a man with his bare hands.

Sara scowled, "Don't play games with me." She said, "I know that you are Kakashi's sensei. You were the one who gave him the scars, right?" the rational portion of her mind was screaming at her not to antagonize him further, on pain of death. But she ignored it, feeling the anger seethe in her veins.

Minato frowned, taken aback. "Scars?" he repeated, not knowing where she was going with this. Every shinobi had scars, he knew, and Kakashi was no different. It wasn't as if the scars were a reason to be ashamed, on the contrary, many shinobi liked to show off their "souvenirs" from the battlefield, bragging about how they had gotten them. And they were, according to Minato's own sensei, very attractive to the ladies, though Kakashi was a little young to be interested in those kinds of things. So when the topic of Kakashi's scars came up, Minato merely shrugged in reply, "Scars is fine." He said, "Kakashi a-cus-tam to it."

The CSI's anger boiled over. Before she could stop herself, her hand shot out and, to his utter shock, hit him across the face. He stood there, a look of shocked disbelief plastered across his face, with a bright red handprint on the side of his face, for a few seconds.

True, he had been slapped before, by Tsunade who blamed him for trying to escape from the hospital all the time and having a bad influence on his silver-haired student, and by a pretty kunoichi from the Whirlpool country called Uzi…Uzumaki, who had misunderstood something he had said.

Of course, Sara's slap did not hurt as much, considering that her strength was nowhere near the Whirlpool kunoichi's, let alone Tsunade's, a fact for which Minato was very grateful. He had no desire to experience the wrath of an angry kunoichi, especially ones famed for their inhuman strength. But still…

"Itai!" Minato winced slightly, putting a hand to his stinging cheek. "You hit strong." He muttered. He had no luck at all with strong women, but at least he was not slapped as much as Jiraiya, since he knew better than to provoke Tsunade.

"We _will_ find Kakashi." Sara said, sounding more confident than she felt, "And you're going to spend the rest of your life in a prison." A small part of her mind was wondering whether she had gone crazy, talking to the suspect who was highly dangerous and, she suspected, not quite human. She still had no idea how he had gotten them onto the roof in such a short amount of time, a feat that, according to the laws of physics, should be impossible. But a larger part, the more emotional portion, was telling her that the man in front of her was the cause of Kakashi's scars, and, in her opinion, the worst kind of scum there was.

"Maa, be calm." Minato soothed. "Don't want fight. Need help. You help find Kakashi."

Sara paused, taken aback. "What are you talking about? Isn't Kakashi with you?"

Minato shook his head, "Iie, missing-nin ab-duck him." Sara frowned, wondering whether he was telling the truth. He looked sincerely worried, not at all like the cruel, uncaring man that she had assumed him to be.

"Abduct." Sara corrected automatically. "And what do you mean by 'missing-nin'?"

"Long sto-ry." He said. "Tell later. You help?"

Sara bit her lip, hesitating. Finally, she nodded. "Alright."

He smiled, "Arigato."

"But you have a lot of explaining to do."

*~*~*

Kakashi could not wait for the end of the mission, assuming that he survived that long. He suppressed a cough, wishing that he had his mask on; the air in the room was damp and stale, and tickled the back of his throat causing a persistent inch that he could not scratch. He could smell all kinds of mold and who knows what, and there was the faint trace of grease and exhaust, which seemed to permeate all corners of this strange land called 'Las Vegas'. Not for the first time, the boy wondered how exactly the people could survive when they were surrounded by all those awful scents.

But now was not the time to be wondering about the survival capabilities of the natives. The first thing to do, Kakashi reasoned, was to free his hands. That was easier said than done, but Kakashi was not one to give up easily. Carefully, he tried twisting his right hand, wincing at the sting of the steel cutting into his flesh. There was not much space between his hand and the wire; the missing-nin obviously did not want him to escape. After ten minutes he was growling in frustration, there was no way he could reach the kunai hidden in his sleeve.

_Then I'll just have to work with what I have._

Unfortunately, what he _did_ have was…nothing. Well, almost nothing. Kakashi was not a genius for nothing, and he had come up with a plan. Closing his eyes, he concentrated his chakra in the tips of his fingers. It was not easy; molding chakra took a lot of energy, especially if he wanted to squeeze it into such a small area. Still, it was his only option, so painstakingly, ignoring the slow drain on his chakra, ignoring the fear hidden but still present in the pit of his stomach, and ignoring the painful friction of the steel wires on his arms, Kakashi squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated.

The seconds passed, merging together until he no longer knew whether it had been a few minutes or a few hours, until he was starting to worry that it would not work and he would be left at the mercy of the missing-nin. But finally-

_Got it!_

Chakra was gathered along the side of his hand, forming a jagged edge. Kakashi knew it was far from perfect, but it would have to do. But the hardest part of his plan was yet to come. Slowly, he began to rub the chakra against the wires.

It was a slow and tedious task, not to mention a constant drain on his chakra. And he was not sure how much longer it would be until the missing-nin came back. So Kakashi worked fervently, praying to whatever gods there were in this strange land, that he would make it in time. Gradually, he felt the wire start to give under his blade of pure chakra.

Finally, when Kakashi's chakra was almost depleted and his hands were stiff and chafed from rubbing against the wire in the same position, the wire broke with a barely audible snap. Kakashi could have sighed in relief. But life, it seemed, was not done messing with him.

The sound of the door creaking open alerted the boy, and that could only mean one thing. He immediately resumed a stiff, awkward position that he hoped would hide the fact that his hands were no longer bound by the wire.

Sure enough, the missing-nin was back, carrying a small, bulging sack and smiling in a way that Kakashi knew was definitely not good for him.

"Hello, brat." The missing-nin sounded almost happy, "Time for things to get interesting."

*~*~*

Grissom looked at his watch, frowning. It had been almost four hours since Kakahsi had disappeared from the hospital, presumably kidnapped. "Where is Sara?" he muttered, "She should be back by now."

Nick and Warrick looked up from their work, sheets of documents describing the symbols that were used in all kinds of cults, and the picture of the blurred sigil that had been found at all three crime scenes. Catherine continued to pour over the photos of the most recent scene—the holding cell, hoping that there would be another stroke of luck, but she was having no success.

"I thought she was coming back with Brass, since she doesn't have a ride." Warrick said.

"But Brass just came back a few minutes ago."

At that moment, the door opened and Greg stuck his head into the room. "Is Sara in here?" he asked. Nick, Warrick and Grissom shook their heads. "We were just wondering where she was."

Greg frowned, "You don't think that-"

But before he could finish his thought, the sound of a familiar voice from behind him drew their attention. "Hey, I'm back."

"Sara! What took you so long?" Greg asked, grinning.

Sara smiled apologetically, "Sorry, I got caught up in the traffic."

Grissom nodded, "Then you'd better get to work." He said in his usual curt manner, "We are still in the most critical hours, but the case is getting cold already." He had missed her presence, and was glad to have her back. But there was still something off about her, some nagging discomfort as if she were hiding something.

"Um, I have something to tell you guys. It is relevant to the case we're working on." Sara said, sounding a bit uneasy. Grissom raised an eyebrow, hiding his own growing disquiet.

"It's a long story." She said, then bit her lip, trying to find words to describe the situation. Grissom's eyebrow rose further, this was probably the first time he had seen Sara at a loss for words. Finally, she sighed, coming to a conclusion. "It'll probably be easier to let you see for yourselves." She muttered.

Turning towards the hallway, she beckoned for someone to enter. A few moments later, a second figure came into view, a young police officer with startling blue eyes. If Grissom's eyebrow rose any further, it would have fallen off.

"And this is…?" Grissom's feeling of unease deepened. He knew that she would not choose this critical time just to introduce them to a new boyfriend of hers, but he could not, for the life of him, think of any other explanation for this stranger she had brought among him. Besides, his uniform indicated that he was a patrol officer, not someone who would be associated with homicide or the crime lab.

The police officer grinned. It was surprising how a simple act could cause such a change in a person. Whereas the CSIs had no idea who the young, sober-faced police officer was, the grinning, blue-eyed man in front of them was unmistakably Namikaze Minato, the very man for whom they had been searching for the past few hours, and the only suspect in their ongoing serial murder investigation.

"Yo!" Minato made a movement with his hands, and soon he was surrounded by a cloud of blue-gray smoke. When the smoke cleared, he was standing once more in the green vest and dark clothes he had been wearing when they had first seen him.

"What the-" Warrick's first reaction was to reach for his gun. Catherine had already pulled out her own weapon, and was now pointing it in the direction of the blonde, her finger a hair's-breadth away from the safety catch. "Don't move."

"Eh…" Minato sighed, raising his hands in the air, "I not here to fight." He said, wondering what it was about him that caused people to try and threaten him with weapons every time they met. Was he really that scary?

Thankfully for Minato, or perhaps more for the CSIs, Sara intervened. "Guys! It's okay." She shouted, stepping in front of Minato.

"Sara, move away from him." Grissom commanded, but his hold on his pistol wavered, just the tiniest bit.

"Guys, just let me explain." Sara pleaded, "It's very important, I promise."

The CSIs looked towards their Supervisor, who could clearly see his own uncertainty mirrored in their eyes. A brief moment of consideration, and he nodded curtly. Catherine was the first to lower her gun, followed by Nick and Warrick. Grissom placed his own pistol on the table, but close enough to him that he could reach it in a heartbeat.

"Sara, please explain." He directed a stern look at Minato, warning him not to make any rash moves. The blonde pointedly ignored his look, slouching back nonchalantly with his arms crossed. His long fingers tapping rhythmically were the only outwards sign of his impatience.

Sara took a deep breath, knowing that it would definitely not be easy to explain everything. She hoped at least they would hear her out before assuming that the stress of the job had finally gotten to her. "You see," she began, "Minato is a ninja…"

*~*~*

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Apparently teachers think it's amusing to give us a ton of work that's due right before spring break. I'm practically dying here, but I still managed to write this chapter. It's a little longer than the others, so hope you enjoy it!

**The Ninja Game**

**Chapter Ten**

There was a long silence in the evidence room after Sara made her announcement, as everyone tried to digest what she had just said but found that their ears were telling their brains something inconceivable, something so impossible it was almost laughable—that Sara, one of their own CSIs, and one of the most level-headed, had just announced that the suspect in an ongoing murder investigation of the utmost importance was in fact, a ninja.

"Ninja!?" Surprisingly, Greg was the first one to react, "You mean like those Japanese assassins that dress in all black and can walk on water?" he stared at her wide-eyed "Who are you and what did you do with Sara?"

Grissom frowned. As impossible as it seemed, he for once agreed with Greg, because to accept the alternative was…mad, which is what Sara seemed to have gone. "Sara, this is not the time for jokes." He admonished sternly, expecting her to burst out laughing in a minute, telling them how hilarious their expressions were.

Instead, she sighed with more than just a hint of frustration. "I am completely serious." She said without even a hint of a smile. Not even a grin or a twitch of her mouth.

"Think about what I've taught you, Sara." Grissom said, a note of desperation in his voice, "Ninjas do not exist."

"You taught me that we should reserve judgment until the evidence leads us to a reasonable conclusion." She retorted, "Just hear me out." Her tone brooked no argument.

Grissom sighed, there was no trying to oppose her when she used that tone of voice. "Then explain." He finally acquiesced. The other CSIs gave him startled looks; their supervisor was not usually one to tolerate useless distractions.

Sara resisted the urge to sigh heavily once more. Grissom did not believe her; she could tell from his attitude that he was merely trying to appease her. Well, at least she knew what she was doing, and there was no way she could fail to convince them. She turned to Minato "Show them."

Minato wanted to frown, his hitae-ate should have been proof enough for anyone who knew the slightest about ninja. But the Yellow Flash was never opposed to a chance to show off. The blonde grinned mischievously, causing most of the CSIs to start reaching for their weapons again.

"Maa, I not bite." Minato could not help adding, though his grin revealed relatively sharp canine teeth did not seem to reassure them. But he ignored their suspicious looks, having received more than enough in the past few hours to inure himself to any glares they might send his way. He crossed his hands in a complicated seal in front of his chest.

"This is jutsu." He explained, hoping that they knew what it meant. From their confused expressions, he doubted it. But at least they were still paying attention, though everyone but Sara looked skeptical. Grissom had raised his eyebrow again, and Minato wondered how the man managed to keep it from falling off.

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_

With a puff of smoke, the CSIs stood blinking and rubbing their eyes, wondering if they were seeing double. But once the smoke cleared, they realized that their eyes were working perfectly well, and there were, in fact _two_ Minatos standing in the middle of the room.

"What the-!?"

"Impossible!"

"No way."

"This has to be some kind of trick."

Minato listened with more amusement than was strictly necessary, laughing inwardly at their disbelief. _It's about time the non-believers met a real shinobi._ He thought triumphantly. Kage Bunshin was an A-ranked jutsu and also one of Minato's favorites, which was why he had chosen to give them the privilege of seeing it.

Both Minatos grinned widely, "You believe now?" they asked in unison.

Grissom was at a loss for words. He had thought it was crazy when Sara had announced that Minato was a ninja, but now that the blonde in question had actually _proved_ he was a ninja, the nightshift supervisor did not know what to think. And, as far as he could see, none of the others were doing any better than him, judging from their expressions of complete shock.

"I know, it took me a while to register too." Sara commented sympathetically, though she looked slightly amused as well. She nodded towards the Minatos, and, before their eyes, one of them dissolved back into a puff of smoke.

Absolute silence reigned in the room for a whole minute.

"How do we know this isn't some sort of trick?" the words came out of Grissom's mouth before he could stop them, "He could have a twin who came in while we were distracted by the smoke." And for a moment, he was actually believed his own words, no matter how impractical they seemed, convinced that it would be alright, and this was just an illusion, and all his beliefs concerning reality had not just been disproved.

Minato rolled his eyes, "No trick." He said, "Watch."

And he commenced to once again ruin their hopes for reconciliation with sanity. It was easy, really, just something Minato had done countless times before, something even a genin could do, but something that just happened to be physically impossible. Four CSIs and one lab tech watched in amazement as the blonde somehow attached his feet to the wall, and proceeded to walk up the wall, using nothing but his feet.

And if this was not enough, Minato continued to the end of the wall, and then started to walk across the ceiling, like some kind of large, blonde spider, strolling evenly, as if he were on the ground instead of hanging upside-down on the ceiling. The _ceiling_.

"Believe now?" Minato asked from his perch.

Grissom took a deep breath, trying to keep himself from hyperventilating. _There must be a trick._ But this statement sounded weak even to himself. Minato didn't wait for an answer, but released the chakra holding him onto the ceiling. He fell, twisting himself lithely in midair so that he landed smoothly, in a crouched position on the floor. He stood, dusting himself off and smiling widely.

Greg, not surprisingly, took the news best. "So you're really a _ninja_?" he asked eagerly. Minato nodded, wasn't that the point he had been trying to make?

"Cool! What else can you do? Walk on water? Breathe fire?" the lab tech, Grissom decided, was having way too much fun.

"What I want to know is why you're here." The supervisor interrupted, "You've showed us these things, but we need to know what you want before we come to a conclusion." Minato turned his attention to the older man, who was obviously the leader here.

"Need help." he said, the same thing he had told Sara, "Find Kakashi."

Grissom frowned, "But I thought you had him."

"Iie, missing-nin." Minato explained, "Pakkun say missing-nin kid-nap Kakashi."

"Pakkun?" this time it was Catherine who interrupted, "Isn't Pakkun Kakashi's dog?"

"Nin-dog." Minato corrected. He knew that the pug would be offended it he knew he was being compared to a normal mutt.

"……" Catherine decided not to pursue the question further. Although this self-proclaimed ninja had some strange tricks, he was obviously still far from normal.

"A missing-nin?" Warrick interrupted, "This wouldn't happen to be the same person you're looking for, would it?"

"Hai, is him." Minato nodded.

"And he wouldn't happen to be a ninja too, would he?" Greg added.

Minato tried his best not to look exasperated. "O-vi-us-lee."

The CSIs exchanged looks, all thinking the same thing. Was this another trick of his? To find the one he wanted to kill, and throw suspicion off himself, killing two birds with one stone. The blonde pretended to ignore their looks, though he knew exactly what they were thinking. His priority now was to find his apprentice, and these people were his best chance, so he waited impatiently, fingers tapping again, for them to come to a decision.

"We need to discuss this in private." Grissom said, after a moment of consideration. Minato frowned, so they didn't trust him after all.

"Fine." He murmured, stepping out of the room. The door closed with an audible click behind him, but he remained outside, leaning against the wall beside the door. Inside the evidence room, four CSIs and one lab tech gathered around Grissom.

"What do you think?" he asked them quietly.

"I think we can trust him." surprisingly, Greg was the first one to answer. "He doesn't seem to be the serial killer type."

"We can't base our decisions on appearances alone." Grissom admonished.

"He doesn't have a reason to lie." Sara interjected. "If he really had something to do with the murders and Kakashi's kidnapping, then why would he come to us for help?"

"He could be trying to throw us off track." Nick suggested, "And maybe use us to find the guy he's looking for. He wants to kill a person, he said so himself. Now someone like that can't be normal."

"Normalcy isn't exactly his strong point." Catherine said dryly, "In case you haven't noticed, he can clone himself and defy gravity."

"That proves nothing except the fact that he has some elaborate tricks to back up his absurd story. The laws of physics cannot be broken, no matter what his tricks appear to do." Grissom's voice was more certain now, as if his hold on his previous beliefs strengthened again once the ninja was out of the room.

"Hey, what if this 'missing-nin' that he's looking for is the same as our target?" Warrick proposed suddenly, "I mean, Kakashi was attacked by the killer, which makes said killer a major suspect in the Ripper cases as well."

"There's no proof of that." Grissom pointed out.

"This is getting us nowhere!" everyone turned to stare at Sara, who had just shouted the last comment rather loudly. She looked around at them angrily, "There is a nine-year-old boy missing right now. And all we can do is talk! Talking won't get us any closer to finding him!"

There was a moment of silence after her outburst, broken when Sara spoke again. "I think we should trust him, because he's the only lead we have." She stood back, waiting for her words to sink in. The reactions of her coworkers were varied, to say the least. Greg, who had never seen her like this before, was staring at her with wide-eyed shock. Nick and Warrick looked slightly embarrassed at being reprimanded. Catherine looked at her proudly, giving her a discreet wink. Grissom, for the most part, looked strangely thoughtful.

"Alright," the supervisor finally spoke, "I agree with Sara. We'll play his ninja game, but only because it could possibly lead us to Kakashi, and maybe the Ripper killer." He looked around at he CSIs, silently asking for their opinions. All of them nodded, accepting his decision.

Grissom exhaled slowly; he could barely believe he was actually going along with this seemingly crazy plan. "You can come in." he said, directing his statement at the ninja outside the door. Minato opened it, grinning. They did not have to tell them their answer.

"Well, let's get to work." Catherine announced. "After all, we have a ninja to catch."

"Missing-nin." Minato corrected her. He was not about to be placed in the same category as those scum.

*~*~*

Kakashi watched warily as the Mist-nin placed the sack he was holding onto the ground and opened it. He tensed, ready to free his arms and defend himself at any moment. He really wished he could make a break for it right then and there, catching the missing-nin by surprise, but unfortunately his legs were still tied up by the wire, effectively limiting his movement. The kunai in his hand, warmed against his skin, was almost hot to the touch.

The missing-nin bent down and took something from the sack. It was a black candle, dark as night and giving off a strange scent, one that caused Kakashi's nose to wrinkle in disgust. It was a sickly sweet, cloying scent that reminded him of rotting fruit, mold and decay. There were three of these candles, which the missing-nin proceeded to set up in a triangle in the middle of the room.

All these proceedings made absolutely no sense to Kakashi, but he was getting a bad feeling anyways. The missing-nin had mentioned a sort of "ceremony" before, and Kakashi knew that it did not bode well for him. He wondered how much time he had left until midnight. Not much, by his guess.

Satisfied with the position of the black candles, the missing-nin reached into his bag and took out something else. At first, Kakashi could not tell what it was, just that it was white, like the masks of the Anbu operatives he had seen, and when it emerged, he thought he felt the temperature in the room drop by several degrees. A chill went down his spine; evil was emanating from the white thing in the missing-nin's hands like stink from a corpse two days in the sun.

The missing-nin turned around, and the exact nature white thing in his hands became clear to Kakashi. It was a skull, not human but from some kind of animal that the boy could not identify. Small but wickedly sharp teeth protruded from its mouth. The empty sockets seemed to glow with some kind of inner light, its malicious gaze settling on the chunin in an unsettling manner.

This grotesque idol was placed in the center of the three black candles, like some kind of twisted lord on its misshapen throne. Kakashi noticed that the missing-nin seemed to handle it with extreme care, as if it were some sort of unholy relic.

"Ah, beautiful, isn't it?" the missing-nin murmured. He turned to Kakashi. _As beautiful as Gamabunta after half a year without eating._ Kakashi thought, then decided that it would be insulting to the toad boss. But still, the skull-thing sent chills down his spine, and he really did not want to stick around and find out what it was for. _Wait,_ he told himself, _just wait until I get the chance._

Noticing the boy's evident disgust and a slightly more concealed uncertainty akin to fear, the missing-nin chuckled darkly. "Aren't you curious, brat?" he asked, tauntingly. Kakashi maintained his sullen silence, but he averted his gaze from the…thing in the middle of the room.

"No? You're not at all like the people native to this land." The missing-nin continued, "They are an annoying bunch, begging for their lives as if it would make a difference." He snorted condescendingly as he remembered their pleas. "But you're not as annoying, kid. You're actually pretty good. If the circumstances were any different, I'd probably take you as my own apprentice."

"Like hell!" Kakashi growled. As if the lowly missing-nin could be compared to Minato-sensei.

The missing-nin's scowled, unhappy that he had been rejected so quickly, but the irritation soon turned to nonchalance, "What does it matter? You won't be alive after the ceremony anyways." He glanced sideways at the boy, "Scared?"

Kakashi did not reply to this, but bit down hard on his lower lip. He would rather die than admit he had any fear of the missing-nin, but the cold feeling in his stomach would not go away.

True, the boy had seen his share of death in his first nine years of life, and even come close to it a few times himself. But this 'ceremony' that the missing-nin was talking about did not seem like a pleasant way to die, judging from the black candles and the skull-thing. He didn't know much about cults in the shinobi world, but he knew enough to understand that the rituals were usually slow and painful.

"Do you want to know what's going to happen?" the missing-nin pounced as soon as he spotted the slightest sign of weakness.

"I'll tell you brat." A cruel, amused smile grew on his face, despite Kakashi's silence. "Have you ever heard of Bijuuu?"

*~*~*

TBC

And the plot thickens… ;)


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait! But I had a test/quiz/important assignment due almost every single day this week. And my internet broke down for most of today. Nevertheless, I still managed to finish this chapter! Enjoy and review please! I hope it's not too boring. 

**The Ninja Game**

**Chapter Eleven**

"Have you ever heard of Bijuuu?"

A sudden surprised jerk form the boy revealed that he had indeed heard the term used before. Bijuuu, the tailed beasts of legend. Kakashi had overheard his sensei talking about them, and apparently they were powerful enough to destroy entire towns, lay entire countries to waste. Especially the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed demon fox, whose appearance always brought with it death and destruction. He had heard rumors in the wind that various hidden villages had their own Bijuu, which they used as weapons in war.

"The three-tailed beast was sealed in Kirigakure. Think of the power we could have gained, all the countries we could have conquered!" The missing-nin continued, "But the idiotic Mizukage would not use the power that was right at our fingertips." Here, his voice acquired a bitter edge.

Kakashi suddenly had an idea of where this was going, and he did not like it at all.

"But, now I will correct their mistakes!" the missing-nin crowed triumphantly, as if he had already accomplished his goal. He turned his intense gaze on Kakashi, "You were chosen, boy, by the Three-tailed demon itself! With your blood, the seal will be broken, and the power that those cowards in the Mist gave up will be mine!" He made a few hand seals, and a flame erupted over all three of the candles, glowing a pale, ghostly green, like will-o-wisps floating above a bog.

_He's crazy._ Kakashi thought, his eyes wide _No wonder the Mist want him dead._

Oblivious to the boy's expression, the missing-nin continued, "I will use your blood to paint the unsealing circle, as I did with the other sacrifices. I wonder, boy, will you scream as they did?" with the last unnerving statement, the missing-nin turned towards Kakashi, a maniacal grin plastered across his face.

"Five minutes 'till midnight." The missing-nin said softly, dangerously. He pulled out a senbon that glinted eerily in the unnatural candlelight. "Let the ceremony begin." He took another step towards Kakashi, relishing the boy's frightened look.

_Just a little bit closer…_

Kakashi's grip on his kunai tightened despite the fear. This was his last chance.

Another step. The missing-nin's face twisted with cruel anticipation.

_Closer…_

Another step. The missing-nin was standing right in front of Kakashi now. He raised the senbon high, above his head.

_Now!_

As the senbon descended, Kakashi tore his arm loose from the broken steel wires, thrusting out his kunai to knock the senbon away. A shocked expression crossed the missing-nin's face as he stood frozen for a few seconds, before turning to furious anger.

But the few seconds of shock were all Kakashi needed. Quickly, he cut the wires wrapped around his legs and, ignoring the pins and needles from hours of disuse, he ran towards the door as fast as they could carry him.

*~*~*

"This is all the evidence we've collected so far on the Ripper case." Sara informed Minato, gesturing towards the table piled high with boxes. The blonde's face fell at the sight of the large amount of information. He had decided to take a look at this "Ripper killer" because he strongly suspected that the killer was actually the missing-nin, though why the mist shinobi would target seemingly random people was beyond him.

"But don't worry," Catherine added hastily, "We've already sorted out the most important pieces of information." Much to his relief, she placed a much smaller pile of papers in front of him.

"This is the most recent thing we found." Grissom pointed out the picture with the strange sigil on it. Minato picked it up, frowning as he studied the picture intently. It was strangely familiar, as if he had seen it before somewhere and the feeling nagged at his mind, like a persistent itch.

"Do you recognize it?" Greg asked eagerly. Of all the CSIs, he was the most curious about the self-proclaimed ninja, and also the most accepting, seeming to find everything about the ninja to be fascinating, despite the fact that said shinobi answered "is secret" to over half of his questions.

"It is not clear." Minato murmured, "But I think I see it in…" the memory of a conversation—more like argument—with his own sensei came back to his mind, about a whether a certain type of demon could beat one of the older man's toad summons. And with that thought was the remembrance of a certain book of classified information that the Toad Sannin had snuck out to prove a point, and a certain picture in the classified book labeled "Gogyo Fuuin (five element seal)", with comments to its effectiveness in sealing high-level demons. And since he had a natural affinity for seals and such things, he had naturally become interested, though Jiraiya had warned him never to talk about it to anyone else, lest a certain Slug princess or Snake bastard come looking for his poor sensei's hide.

Minato's eyes widened in realization. This wet, soggy seal he was looking at was not one of the sealing Fuuin, but a Kaiin, an unsealing jutsu. Meaning that the missing-nin was trying to unseal a demon. And, considering that it needed a blood sacrifice to complete, the demon sealed was obviously _very_ high-level.

His first thought was _No wonder the mist want him dead_. And his second thought was _Crap! Kakashi is with that crazy bastard!_ He let loose a string of curses in his native language that would have made even Jiraiya wince.

Having noticed his not-so-subtle change in attitude, the CSIs all clamored to know what he had found out. But Minato's mind was working overtime, trying to process what this could mean. Assuming the demon was a Bijuu, which was the worst-case scenario but very possible considering the circumstances, then the missing-nin would have to chose a special day, such as new moon, for the final unsealing ceremony. And he would most likely hold it at midnight, the best hour to unseal anything unholy.

Well, since he recalled that exactly two weeks ago, the day he and Kakashi had left Konoha, it had been full moon, which made today…_Chikuso!_

"What time is it?" he demanded of the closest CSI, which happened to be Greg.

"Um, let me check." Greg glanced down at his watch as Minato watched impatiently, "Nearly eleven." Minato wanted to pound his fist into the table in frustration. There was no more time left!

"If you've found something, we have a right to know too." Nick piped up, looking pointedly at Minato. The blonde bit his lip. It would be troublesome to tell them the whole story, but there was no doubt that he would need their help if he wanted to make it in time.

"Missing-nin will have…cer-a-mo-nee." He chose his words carefully, "At mid-night. We must find him before."

"A ceremony?" Warrick repeated, frowning. "I'm guessing that's bad news."

Minato nodded, "Very bad. Need to find Kakashi before."

The mention of the boy immediately caught everyone's attention. After all, the life of a child was not to be taken lightly. "Do you have any idea where this ceremony might be?" Grissom asked.

The blonde chewed on his lower lip, thinking fast. The missing-nin was from the Mist, and there were rumors that the Mist had captured the Three-tails. Assuming that it was the Three-tails, a giant turtle, if the jonin's memory was right, that he was trying to unseal, the missing-nin would probably be somewhere…

"Near water." Minato answered.

"That narrows it down a bit." Sara said, "But there's still a lot of places to cover, and not much time before midnight."

"Ceremony is…big." Minato added, "Need lot of space."

"So an empty warehouse or other big abandoned building near water." Grissom mused, "Nick, get a map." The CSI complied, and soon they were all pouring over a transparent map of the city. Soon, all the unused warehouses situated near any source of water were circled in red ink, all eight of them.

"There's still too many to search one by one!" Warrick noted, frowning. "We need to narrow the field down some more."

"Well, the killer probably won't choose these places," Catherine crossed out three of the circles, "Because they're too close to the busiest parts of the city. There'll be a lot of people around in gangs or dealing drugs." Minato nodded thoughtfully. They were down to five possible locations now, a much better situation than when he was on his own.

"I know that these two are on federal property." Grissom said, crossing out another two, "There are security guards to prevent anyone from entering without the correct documents, and they patrol every night. I don't think the killer can be here, especially since he cannot even speak our language fluently."

That left three final possibilities. Minato stood up, "Then we go now." He declared. "Three is good enough."

"Then we'll have to split up." Nick said. Everyone turned towards Grissom for a decision. The supervisor nodded, "Alright then, we'll split into three groups. I'll be with Sara, Warrick and Catherine, Nick and Greg."

"Yes!" Greg pumped a fist into the air, unable to contain his excitement over his first "adventure" in the field. Grissom sighed, knowing that he would probably regret this decision later.

"And I'll let you decide which location you want to check out." Grissom said, addressing Minato. The blonde was not, after all, a part of his team.

Minato grinned, "No worry, I go to all three." With a quick gesture and two puffs of smoke, there were now three Minatos standing in the middle of the lab. Grissom blinked in surprise, but he knew better than to try and think any harder about it, which would undoubtedly lead to nothing more than a headache.

"Okay then." Catherine announced, "Everyone grab a clone. It's time to get to work."

Fifty minutes till midnight.

*~*~*

"Do you know how to use a gun, Greg?" Nick asked the young lab tech. Greg shook his head, frowning in distaste, "No, firearms make me nervous."

Nick sighed, turning his attention back to the road.

"Gun?" Minato—or a Minato clone—inquired from the back seat. "What is gun?"

"You don't know what a gun is?" Greg asked incredulously. "Don't they have them in Japan?"

"Ah, maybe." Minato answered evasively. He had no idea where this 'Japan' was, but he was not about to correct their misconceptions.

"A gun is a weapon that we use here." Greg launched into an explanation of firearms. Nick listened half-heartedly, wondering where Greg learned such things. But then again, the lab tech made it his goal to one day become a CSI, so it would be no surprise if he had done some studying in his own time.

Minato listened intently, storing the information into his mind for further use. So this 'gun' was probably the weapon Sara had pulled on him when he first 'made her acquaintance'. It sounded like a formidable weapon, able to shoot pieces of hot metal at high speeds. Idly, Minato wondered if he would be able to doge it, even with his shunshin no jutsu.

"We're almost there." Nick said, interrupting Greg's monologue. "We'll park in the lot across from the warehouse and check it out on foot."

A silence, broken only by the soft whispering of the river behind the warehouse, descended as Nick parked the car in the empty parking lot, switching off the headlights and the engine. As the three men stepped out of the car silently—Minato winced as Greg slammed the door shut, then flushed at his mistake—and started off towards the unused warehouse.

The warehouse loomed over them like a menacing face, its window eyes dark and blank. Nick's hand closed around his gun as they reached the large double-door, and Greg shivered slightly, as if someone had just breathed on the back of his neck. "Are you sure we don't need any backup?" He whispered.

Nick and Minato paused, giving him strange looks.

"Nevermind." He said hastily.

"No worry, I can fight missing-nin." Minato said, trying to be friendly. "Easy kill."

For some reason, this did not seem to reassure Greg, but he did not voice anything again. Nick drew his gun now, tense and prepared for any surprises. Minato frowned; there was no sign of the missing-nin's chakra, or Kakashi's. It was most likely they were not here, but he decided to check, just in case.

"Open the door," Nick ordered in a low voice.

Greg swallowed nervously, wishing now that he had a firearm of his own, uneasy or not. But he took a deep breath and fumbled with the bar across the door. With a loud thump, the bar fell heavily on the floor, drawing a wince from Minato and a curse from Nick. Greg scrambled away just as the doors swung open, revealing the dark inside of the warehouse like a gaping mouth.

"LVPD! Put your hands behind your head!" Nick shouted, holding his gun up in front of him, staring into the darkness to look for any sign of a suspicious person. There was nothing, no sound or movement except his voice echoing through the emptiness.

Someone touched his shoulder, and he jumped before realizing it was only Minato. The blonde shook his head, "No worry, no one here." He said.

Nick lowered his gun slowly, still wary. But when nothing jumped out, he sighed, "Oh well, I guess this isn't the place."

"I don't know if we should be thankful or disappointed." Greg muttered, walking over.

"Let's tell the others." Nick said, reaching for his phone. But Minato stopped him, shaking his head. "Iie, I will tell them."

"How-" Greg started to ask, but Minato merely smiled enigmatically, crossing his hands between his chest in a strange hand signal. "Like this." He said, then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Nick and Greg blinked, confused. "So that was a clone?" Greg finally asked.

"I guess." Nick shrugged. "Though I wonder where he went."

"Now what?"

"We should get back to the lab." Nick sighed, "I bet Brass is wondering where we all went."

Greg's eyes widened as he realized that none of them had informed the homicide detective where they had gone. "Great," he groaned, "Brass is gonna kill us."

*~*~*

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: sorry if this chapter sounds a little rushed, I'm just too lazy to edit. And sorry if it is a little short. 

But on a lighter note…Yay! 100 reviews! I love you all! I promise to update soon, though what "soon" means is still unclear…

**The Ninja Game**

**Chapter Twelve**

Twenty minutes till midnight.

"So are you a clone or the original?" Catherine asked, taking her eyes off the road for a moment to glance at the blonde ninja through her rear-view mirror.

"Maa, you see later." Minato replied lazily.

Catherine pursed her lips in the expression that she wore every time Greg made a droll comment on a case, a cross between amusement and annoyance. Warrick rolled his eyes, knowing that if the blonde was anything like Greg, he would never tell them.

"How far now?" Minato asked, changing the subject.

"Just a few more minutes." Warrick replied.

"Good. When we get-" Minato suddenly paused, his eyes unfocusing for a moment as if remembering something. The memories of the dispelled kage bunshin surfaced in his mind.

"What?" Catherine asked, glancing at him again in the rearview mirror. "Is everything okay?"

"Ah, hai." Minato replied, his eyes focusing again on hers in the mirror. "But missing-nin is not in Nick and Greg way-ru-hous." He declared.

Warrick blinked, "You mean Nick and Greg and…you didn't find anything him in your warehouse?"

"Yes."

"How do you know that?"

"Is secret."

"I figured." Catherine muttered. It seemed like magicians weren't the only ones who never revealed their tricks.

"So what's the plan when we get to our target?" Warrick asked, though it was not clear whether he was addressing Catherine or Minato. "It's not easy to work without the usual police backup."

"We'll sneak up quietly, catch him unawares." Catherine replied promptly. "Nice and simple."

"Yes." Minato nodded in agreement. He glanced at Catherine with increased admiration, knowing that the people here had some sense. He just hoped they would be able to carry out the plan silently enough—as interested as Greg was in fieldwork, he obviously did not have the skills yet.

They arrived at the warehouse quietly enough—at least no one slammed any doors this time. The second warehouse sat loftily on a stone rise beside the river, which ran under the bridge they had crossed to get to where they were. It was silent, save for the sounds of their breathing and soft footsteps, and pounding heartbeats which only Minato could discern.

Catherine and Warrick both drew their guns as they approached, keeping near the walls as they made their way to the doors on the front of the warehouse. Minato followed a few feet behind, as they had instructed. He figured it was probably safe, since he couldn't sense any chakra in this building either.

As they approached the door, Catherine signaled silently to Warrick, who nodded and moved quickly to the other side of the door. She looked towards Minato, waiting for him to give the signal. He was, after all, the one who knew the missing-nin best.

A slight nod from the jonin, who held a kunai in his hand though Catherine could not remember when he had taken it out, was all they needed to leap into action. "LVPD!" Warrick shouted, kicking the doors open while holding his gun up with the safety off. Minato was slightly impressed; he had to admit that they were highly efficient—for civilians anyways.

The door banged open, sending echoes through the building and shaking dust to the ground. But there was no reply, no movement, even as Catherine waved around the flashlight that she was thoughtful enough to bring, just dust and shadows.

"This isn't the place." Catherine finally announced, lowering her gun and flashlight.

"Yeah. That means Grissom and Sara are the lucky winners." Warrick muttered.

"Ah, I will go now." Minato said, drawing confused looks from the two CSIs.

"Wait, what do you mean-"

But before Catherine could finish her question, Minato gave a jaunty salute and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Neither of the two remaining CSIs said anything as the adrenaline of the search ebbed, leaving them drained emotionally.

After a moment of silence, Catherine was the first to speak.

"So we got a clone, didn't we?"

*~*~*

Ten minutes till midnight.

As Minato opened his eyes in the back of Grissom's SUV, the first thing he registered was someone's urgent voice talking to him.

"Hey, are you listening?" Sara demanded, twisting in the passenger seat to look at the blonde.

"Ah, no." Minato answered truthfully, though he realized that this might not have been the best answer when her face darkened immediately in a look that would have made Tsunade proud. "I know where missing-nin is now." He declared hastily. This statement caught her attention, as well as Grissom's, and both paused to listen to what he had to say, his faux pas forgotten.

"Missing-nin is in our warehouse." He said. "We need to-"

"Wait, how did you know this?" Grissom interrupted, still skeptical about the so-called-ninja's abilities.

"Secret." Minato replied coolly.

"If that's true, then we need to hurry." Sara said, looking at her watch, "There are only ten minutes until midnight."

Grissom did not reply, but sped up until they were way above the speed limit, hoping that a police car would not stop them, and they finally arrived at the warehouse three minutes later. This one was closer to the river than the previous two had been, sitting right by the banks with only a chain-link fence between the walls and the raging water below.

"You wait here." Minato instructed the two CSIs in the car. "Is dangerous." He added before they could start to protest, "I have ex-peer-ence."

"No," Sara was adamant, "We have experience too. And besides, the missing-nin is a cold-blooded murderer. You'll need our backup."

"I agree with Sara." Grissom said, "This is not the time to be playing hero."

Minato frowned. What did they understand? They were civilians who did not know even the simplest jutsu, and they would just get in the way. Still, he had to admit that they were brave, or maybe just too ignorant for their own good.

"No." he said, "You stay."

"This is not the time to be arguing." Sara said, "There are only about five minutes left. We will come find Kakashi whether you like it or not. And if we don't hurry it will be too late."

Minato's frown turned into a scowl. He knew what she said was true, and though he could easily just knock the two of them unconscious, it was probably better not to. "Fine." He acquiesced, "But you stay back. Do what I say."

Grissom and Sara nodded, and Minato gestured for them to follow him as he started off towards the warehouse.

There was definitely something inside the warehouse. The closer they got, the more Minato was sure of this, for charka oozed out of the house like slime from one of Tsunade's summons. But unlike Tsunade's slugs, the chakra was malicious, full of evil intent, shrouding the warehouse and its surroundings like a horde of malevolent spirits. Even Sara and Grissom, who could not detect chakra, felt chills go down their spines as if they had just stepped into a cold spot.

"Bijuu." Minato muttered. There was no doubt about it, this was the aura of a tailed-beast, a demon whose seal had been loosened considerably and was just steps away from being released completely.

"What did you say?" Grissom whispered from behind him.

Minato shook his head, "Wait here." He said, "Do not follow, or you die."

And with this last ominous warning, the blonde darted forwards, to the door of the warehouse.

*~*~*

As soon as Kakashi made a break towards the door of the room, two things happened. First, he had not yet regained the feeling in his legs from being tied up for so long, and he stumbled over a crack on the ground and tumbled forward. Secondly, the missing-nin recovered from his initial shock and turned furiously to face the boy.

"Kuso!" Kakashi quickly rolled to the side, avoiding a shuriken aimed to kill. The blade left a line of red across his cheek.

"Damn you, brat!" the missing-nin growled, reaching for more weapons, "You never know when to give up."

Kakashi used his momentum to climb to his feet, clutching his shoulder, where the injury had torn open again and was not dripping warm blood down his arm. He winced at the pain, but kept his defensive stance, the kunai held up in front of him. He knew that there was no chance he could last longer than a minute against the missing-nin in his injured state, but there was also no way he would allow himself to be used to break the seal on the Bijuu. He needed to find a way to escape.

The missing-nin seemed to realize what he was thinking and smirked, "Forget it, brat." He drew out a kunai with deliberate slowness. "You really shouldn't have tried to escape. At least I would have killed you quickly. But now I won't be so merciful."

Kakashi snorted softly, _As if you had any mercy to begin with._ But he was still undoubtedly in a very bad position; he had lost a lot of blood, and the edges of his vision were already starting to grow black. And in addition to that, the chakra from the creepy skull in the middle of the room had grown thicker, smothering the room with its presence, and the foul scent threatened to overwhelm his heightened senses.

He was not the only one affected by the increase in chakra; the missing-nin seemed less at ease as well, with the time limit of midnight creeping closer as the seconds slipped by. His eyes shifted almost nervously to glance at the skull, whose eye sockets seemed to burn with a glowing intensity under the green light of the black candles. This movement did not go unnoticed by the white-haired genius, and the inchoate beginnings of a plan started to form.

"Play time is over, brat." The missing-nin finally said cockily, though Kakashi could still sense the unease beneath his arrogant façade "Now I'll make you wish you were never born!"

Kakashi braced himself as the missing-nin launched a handful of shuriken towards him, dodging to the left as they struck the ground where he had been standing just a split second before.

"Too slow again!" the missing-nin shouted, rushing forward. Kakashi looked up too late to see the kick coming towards him, and the breath was knocked out of his body by the solid kick to his midriff. He slammed into the door, which splintered under the force, and landed onto the stairs behind with a sickening crack.

"It ends here," the mist-nin said, stepping forwards with a shuriken raised and smirking cruelly, "I'll kill you in the most painful way possible!"

Kakashi pushed himself up with one arm, wiping away the blood that trickle out of the corner of his mouth. He winced, knowing that his ribs must be cracked at the very least, and it would take at least a week for them to heal completely, assuming that he survived that long of course. The missing-nin stepped closer, but instead of backing away, Kakashi smirked.

The missing-nin's smile turned into a scowl, "What are you grinning at, brat?" he growled, "You can't escape-" and that was when Kakashi threw the kunai with all his strength, aimed strait for his enemy's heart. The missing-nin's eyes widened, and he leapt to the side feeling the warm metal brush against his face as the kunai flew past.

Kakashi's smirk widened. Realization registered in the missing-nin's eyes, and he spun around quickly, "Why you-"

The kunai was headed straight towards the bleached white skull in the middle of the room. The glowing eye sockets seemed to flare in alarm, and the missing-nin cursed loudly, turning around with surprising alacrity to intercept the weapon.

It was now or never. Drawing up his last reserves, Kakashi pulled his small, battered body off the steps and started up the stairs. Behind him, he heard the clash of metal on metal and knew that he had not managed to destroy the malicious relic, and then the sound of the missing-nin's angry promises of how he would kill the boy in various and painful ways.

Each breath, each step he took sent a jolt of pain through his chest and shoulder, and the edges of his vision blurred, from blood loss or fatigue. He knew that even if he did make it to the top of the stairs, he probably did not have enough energy to make it much further.

_Damn! So close…if only sensei…_

And just when he felt the missing-nin's hand around his neck, both of them felt another chakra signal approaching quickly. An impossible hope rose in Kakashi's mind as he recognized the very familiar chakra of his sensei. Maybe all hope was not lost…but the missing-nin cursed, backing away from the door, dragging the boy with him none too gently.

The door burst open with a flare of chakra, revealing a young, blonde man in jonin attire and a Konoha headband standing at the top. "Kakashi!" Minato cried, then froze as he saw the missing-nin with an arm around the neck of said student and a kunai to his throat, close enough to draw a thin line of blood.

"Take another step forward and the brat dies." The Mist-nin spat.

*~*~*

TBC

An evil cliffhanger! :P


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Noo! Spring break is almost over! But while it's still break, enjoy the next chapter and review please.

**The Ninja Game**

**Chapter Thirteen**

As soon as he entered the warehouse, Minato knew for certain that this was definitely the place the missing-nin was hiding. The stench of the demon's chakra was so thick that Minato could have cut it with a kunai. And all of the nastiness was emanating from a door on the opposite side of the room, which presumably led to a lower floor.

But underneath the all-covering demonic chakra, he could distinctly tell two other chakra signals, one of them very familiar, but very weak. The other had an unmistakable killing intent.

Minato was across the room in a flash. He practically ripped open the door that was the only thing between him and his precious, _hurt_ student. The wooden obstacle didn't stand a chance, flying to the side like a piece of straw in the wind.

Minato froze.

The sight of Kakashi's broken and bloody state was enough to make Minato see red. No one, _no one_, was allowed to hurt Kakashi like this, and Minato was going to kill, tear, _rip_ the missing-nin apart and make him rue the day he set his sights on the boy. The thick aura of killing intent filled the small, cramped stairway, almost enough to completely mask the dark chakra of the demon.

"Take another step forward and the brat dies."

The missing-nin's voice broke through the blonde jonin's murderous thoughts. He pressed the kunai harder against Kakashi's throat, drawing a bright line of blood on the pale skin. Minato did not move.

"Hn, you must be the other Konoha shinobi." The missing-nin said, smirking. He knew he had the upper hand in this situation, "Is Konoha short on men? Why else would they send _two_ brats after me?"

"Don't underestimate sensei." Kakashi growled. Minato would have beamed proudly in any other situation at the boy's loyalty.

"So he's your sensei." the missing-nin taunted. He tightened his grip ever so slightly on Kakashi's neck, just enough to make the boy wince in pain again, "Why don't I let him watch as finish the ceremony? Then he can be the first sacrifice to my power!"

Kakashi stubbornly refused to answer, but Minato could see the uncertainty and fear in his eyes. The desire to kill something intensified, and the blonde jonin gave a mirthless smile. "Like Kakashi said, don't underestimate me."

The missing-nin raised an eyebrow. "So what are you going to do? Stare me to death?"

"You've forgotten one thing." Minato said quietly, yet there was no mistaking the killing intent behind his words.

"Oh?" the missing-nin seemed oblivious to the murderous aura emanating from his enemy, though Kakashi's eyes widened. "And what is that?"

Suddenly, Minato was not there anymore, disappearing so quickly that the missing-nin stood confused for a moment, wondering where the blone had gone. But one moment was all Minato needed. "I am Konoha's Yellow Flash." He whispered in the missing-nin's ear.

The missing-nin's eyes widened until they were almost bulging out, filled with anger or fear, or a combination of both. Before he could react, Minato had deftly twisted his arm behind his back with one hand and severed the ligaments in his wrist, forcing him to drop his kunai and his grip on Kakashi and release a howl of pain.

Before the boy could hit the ground, Minato caught him lightly, moving quickly back to the top of the stairs again. Kakashi's body was hot, almost feverish in Minato's arm, and the blonde could feel him shivering slightly from blood loss and exhaustion.

"Sensei!" Kakashi cried, burying his head in Minato's shoulder. Minato's heart clenched because despite his usual lack of emotion, despite the fact that he was one of the best chunin in Konoha and considered a genius, Kakashi was still a nine-year old boy, hurt and tired, emotionally and physically.

"It's okay." He murmured to the boy. But now was not the time for comfort, and though Minato wanted to hug Kakashi and heal him and tell him everything would be alright, there was still an enemy to take care of. "Can you walk?" Minato asked instead. The head of silver hair buried in his shoulder nodded.

Carefully, Minato put Kakashi down and though he stumbled a little, the chunin managed to stay on his feet. And though he was far from confident, his face was expressionless, revealing none of the churning emotions he felt inside. He was, in short, the perfect textbook example of what to do in situations like this, and the thought, for some inexplicable reason, made Minato a bit sad. But, of course, now was not the time to sort out his thoughts.

Satisfied that his student was on his way out, Minato turned his attention back to the problem at hand. The missing-nin had not spent the last few moments idly; the green glow around his hand faded as he finished healing his wrist. Now, the Mist-nin cracked the fingers of his healed hand, growling, "Damn brats, I'll sacrifice you both to the Three-Tails to pay for what you did!"

The dark, sadistic look on Minato's face would have made most ninja run away in fear, and it was a testament to the missing-nin's insanity that he did not even flinch. The Konoha jonin drew another kunai so that he had one in each hand, twirling them casually, yet with deadly grace.

"No." he said, his voice full of killing intent, "You're the one who's going to pay."

*~*~*

Sara and Grissom were crouched behind small mound of earth that could barely pass for a hill, but at least it would offer them some cover if it ever came to a gunfight.

"Remind me again why we didn't bring back-up." Grissom muttered.

"Because we all agreed that no one would believe the story about Minato being a ninja. And there was no time to convince them either." Sara offered helpfully.

"I know that!" Grissom snapped, a testament to how high-strung his nerves were at the moment. Usually, the Supervisor never raised his voice, let alone snapped. But Sara was also too preoccupied to comment on the change, "Don't you think we should go in and help him?" she whispered.

"Why? He explicitly told us to stay out, or we'd die." Grissom replied, "And weren't you the one who wanted to believe him in the first place?"

"Yes, but…what if he can't handle it alone? The killer doesn't seem to be the merciful type." Sara's hand reached for her gun, but she made no move to go forward, waiting for the order of her supervisor.

"…" Grissom was silent for a moment, considering the situation. True, Minato had told them not to go in, but, ninja or not, he was still a suspect in the case, and not to be trusted completely. It was also likely that he had been playing them all along. And then there matter of Kakashi, the missing child. Perhaps, Grissom thought, there was some truth to what Minato had said, and Kakashi was actually here. If Minato did not mean well for the child, then there was a lot at stake here.

"Alright," Grissom finally made his decision. "We're going in."

Sara smiled briefly, then drew her gun and carefully walked out from behind the mound of dirt, darting towards the warehouse. Grissom followed her closely, also reaching for his own weapon. The two CSIs pressed themselves against the outside walls of the building, advancing carefully towards the doors, which were open a fraction where Minato had slipped past.

"Wait, I think I hear some voices." Sara whispered, coming to a stop just outside the door. Sure enough, Grissom could also distinguish two different voices from inside the warehouse, echoing through the emptiness of the warehouse. But it was a foreign language that neither Sara nor Grissom could understand. They did, however, realize that one of the voices speaking was definitely Minato.

"I hear Minato." Grissom whispered, "And the other one is definitely not Kakashi."

"The killer?" Sara suggested.

"Or at least the missing-nin Minato was talking about."

Sara opened her mouth to answer, but whatever she was going to say was forgotten when a howl of pain and rage, almost inhuman in its ferocity, emitted from the inside of the warehouse. Both CSIs stiffened instinctively, raising their guns with their fingers poised above the triggers.

"What the hell was that?" Sara muttered, a hand to her heart.

"My best guess is that the fight finally started." Grissom answered. Though they could not hear much above the sound of their own pounding hearts, they could hear low voices speaking the foreign language again—the sound traveled through to them with ease.

"So do we wait for backup or charge in now?" Sara asked.

Grissom frowned, the safer option was to wait for police officers to come back them up, but they had no idea what was happening between Minato and the killer, a situation that could very possibly turn fatal for one of them. From inside, Minato's voice sounded again, but this time there was no mistaking the menace in the voice. And though they could not understand Japanese, its meaning was clear: blood would be spilled tonight.

"We charge." Grissom said, "On the count of three." Sara nodded curtly.

"One…"

"Two…" Sara tensed, ready to slip through the crack between the double doors as soon as the signal was given.

"Three, now!"

With practiced movements, the two CSIs kicked open the door, guns raised, "LVPD! Put your hands up!" Sara shouted. Her voice echoed loudly in the emptiness of the warehouse, and coupled with the darkness, it seemed almost unreal.

The two CSIs froze, however, at the sight before them. The first thing they noticed was that there were actually three people in the room, two of whom they recognized. Both their eyes went towards the smallest figure, a boy with a very familiar head of silver hair, which was now matted with blood and grime like the rest of his body. Kakashi blinked at them, with a mix of surprise and confusion. He looked hurt, with all the blood on his clothes, and tired beyond belief, yet somehow he was still standing on his own.

Minato stood a few feet away from the doorway leading to the lower level with two dark metal throwing knives in his hands, frozen as well in surprise, which quickly turned into worried annoyance.

The third person, standing at the head of the stairs, was someone they had not seen before, a man wearing similar clothes as Minato, though his headband had a different symbol: four different squiggles like waves marred by a long scratch through the symbols. Two scars ran vertically across his face, making him look rather menacing. He was the missing-nin on the photograph Minato had shown them. In one hand, he held a star-shaped weapon similar to the ones Minato was holding.

Both Minato and the missing-nin looked like they were about to kill each other. Well at least they weren't in league with each other, judging from the circumstances.

"Baka! I said stay out!" Minato growled at them.

"Hey, we thought you'd need some help." Sara protested.

"Besides, we're professionals trained to deal with situations like these." Grissom added. This wasn't necessarily true since they usually arrived after the scene was cleared, but they knew what to do in emergencies like the current state of affairs.

The missing-nin walked a few steps forward and said something in the foreign language, eliciting a low growling response from Minato. The missing-nin replied in a taunting tone, gesturing towards them with his throwing star. Though they did not know his exact words, but his tone was clear: is this the best backup you could get?

"Hey, hands up, drop the weapon!" Sara shouted, pointing her gun at the missing-nin. The scarred man smiled condescendingly at her, saying something incomprehensible. She bit her lip, not sure of what to do. What exactly did you tell someone who apparently not afraid of a gun and doesn't understand your language?

"Tell him to drop his weapon or we will be forced to use force." Grissom told Minato.

But the blonde shook his head, scowling. "No, you leave. Now."

"But-"

"Is dangerous here." He interrupted, keeping his eyes trained on the missing-nin. "Take Kakashi." He added, seeing their hesitation.

Sara and Grissom's eyes glanced towards the silver-haired boy. He looked pale, probably from blood loss, and in need of immediate medical attention. Sara and Grissom glanced at each other, and Grissom nodded. Getting Kakashi out of here was the most important thing right now. They lowered their guns, though still keeping an eye on the missing-nin, and walked over to the boy, who let them come, too tired to protest more than sending his sensei a half-hearted glare at the prospect of being babysitted again.

The missing-nin said something again, but this time he sounded impatient. Without warning, he raised his hand, throwing a handful of the star-shaped weapons towards the two CSIs. Sara froze, staring at the weapon coming straight towards her, too shocked to react. And she hadn't even seen him take the weapons out! Through the corner of her eyes, she could see Grissom's eyes wide in a surprised, almost fearful expression as he started to move.

She screamed at her own body to move, but her movements seemed sluggish compared to the speed of the throwing-stars, and she knew that she was not fast enough, and that the black, steel stars would definitely hit their target. She closed her eyes in anticipation, _I'm going to die…_

But instead of pain, she heard the sound of clashing metal. Opening her eyes, she saw that the throwing-stars had been deflected, and were now lying in a pile on the ground next to the two throwing knives that had been in Minato's hands just moments before. The missing-nin scowled in annoyance, but did not throw any more weapons at them, focusing instead on his real opponent: Minato. The blonde barked something in his native language, presumably to Kakashi, and turned his attention back to the missing-nin, glaring fiercely enough to make most hardened criminals flinch.

Sara felt her legs shaking, as if her bones had suddenly gone soft, _So this is what he meant by dangerous._ Even with guns, she knew they stood no chance against someone who could move that fast and could probably kill them in the amount of time needed to sneeze. No wonder Minato had not wanted them to interfere. It was nothing like she had imagined, yet she knew she should have expected it. _He did say that they were ninjas, like in the movies._

She was distracted from her thoughts by a hand tugging on her sleeve. It was Kakashi, looking slightly annoyed, "We go now." He said tiredly, "Minato-sensei is serious now. Things get dan-jer-us." Her mouth dry, Sara nodded, glancing at Grissom, who had the same I-think-I'm-in-an-action-movie look on his face, but seemed to be able to function despite his shock.

"Hurry." Kakashi prompted. A small part of Sara's mind told her that _they_ should be the ones taking care of the boy and not the other way around, but he was also a ninja and obviously more used to such things. She wondered now how much she really knew about the silver-haired boy she had been trying to help all along. But now was not the time to wonder, and as she stumbled towards the door with Grissom, she saw Kakashi frown almost worriedly while glancing over his shoulder.

Following his gaze, she saw the two ninjas doing something strange. They seemed to be holding their hands to the levels of their chins, performing strange motions too fast for her to follow. Kakashi's grip on her sleeve tightened as he pulled her forwards harder, and somehow she had a foreboding feeling that the throwing stars and knives were only the surface of their abilities.

Both men seemed to have finished their movements and now shouted something out loud in their own language. Sara vaguely heard something like "Jut-soo" but her brain had no time to wonder what it meant as the full power of two shinobi appeared before her.

As soon as the words left their mouths, all hell broke loose.

*~*~*

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Sorry for the long delay…I just finished this chapter today. It was all because of the JCL convention over the weekend, where I had no access to computers and had to sleep at 1:00 and get up at 7:00, and spend the day doing nerdy things…but it was pretty fun 

This story is getting longer than I expected, 34,000 words! But I am going to conclude it soon, partly because I've run out of ideas for a further plot that won't seem too far-fetched. But no worries, I already have the ideas for another story in my head, though it might not be a crossover…

Enough with the long author's note (probably the longest yet) and on with the story. Please don't forget to review!

**The Ninja Game**

**Chapter Fourteen**

Minato felt like punching a hole through something in true Tsunade fashion when the two absolute _idiots_ came barging in, waving around their little metal so-called weapons and shouting for the missing-nin to surrender. And after he had told them to stay outside too!

The missing-nin looked amused at their futile attempts to be intimidating. As if he could be scared by some worthless pieces of metal that weren't even sharp! "_That's_ your backup? They're pitiful, even a genin could do better than that." He taunted.

"Shut up." Minato growled. But inside, he was panicking. Stupid, _stupid_ civilians, he thought, _they're getting themselves involved in things over their heads._

"I could kill them without even trying." The missing-nin continued, waving his shuriken towards the two civilians. "Care to see how well they dodge?"

"Hey, hands up, drop the weapon!" Sara called in English.

The missing-nin raised an eyebrow, understanding her tone if not her words. Minato cursed her for being so conspicuous; didn't she understand that it was better _not_ to call attention to herself?

"Tell him to drop his weapon or we'll be forced to use force." Grissom told Minato.

The blonde mentally rolled his eyes. Right, he knew how well _that_ would go. He shook his head scowling in frustration, "No, you leave." He ordered. "Now." He added with emphasis.

"But-" Grissom opened his mouth to protest.

"Is dangerous." Minato interrupted, hoping that they would take the hint. "Take Kakashi." He added, hoping that at least they could make themselves useful and take his student away from the danger.

That last statement seemed to do the trick, because Sara and Grissom nodded in understanding, walking over to the boy.

"You really think you can just walk out like that?" the missing-nin asked suddenly. Minato's gaze snapped back to him as he cursed. The Mist-nin had taken out a handful of shuriken and hurled them towards the two CSIs. Minato saw Sara's eyes go wide as the shuriken flew closer and her body freeze up. There was no way she could dodge. She closed her eyes tightly.

Acting on instinct, Minato threw the two kunai he was holding, and with a resounding clang, the shuriken were knocked off course, landing in a harmless pile five feet away. The missing-nin scowled in annoyance, but Minato's glare made it clear that if he tried anything else, he would find himself stuck full of kunai.

"Take the civilians outside." He told Kakashi, who was probably the best suited for the job, considering the shaken looks of both CSIs. Kakashi nodded, tugging on Sara's sleeve to get her attention. "We go now." He told her, "Minato-sensei is serious now. Things get dan-jer-us."

He saw Sara glance at Grissom, who nodded. Both looked shaken, but still able to move, something Kakashi was thankful for, since he knew he could not drag them both outside in his current state. They started to move towards the exit.

"Hurry." He urged, feeling the missing-nin's and Minato's chakra flare in preparation for an attack. He glanced over his shoulder, frowning as he saw them start the hand seals. Sara followed his gaze, looking confused at what the two shinobi were doing. Kakashi's frown deepened until it was almost a scowl, and his grip on her sleeve tightened as he tugged harder. Though he was pretty sure they couldn't even see the hand seals, let alone steal the techniques, he knew that now was _not_ the time for them to be sightseeing.

But even as he tried to pull her forward, he knew it was too late. Minato and the missing-nin finished their hand seals at the same time and called out the names of the jutsu.

_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu_

Sara and Grissom watched with eyes wide with shock as Minato held his hand up in front of his mouth and _blew_. They were even less prepared for the huge ball of fire that erupted from between his fingers. Did he just _breathe fire_?

_Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu_

But before the fireball could reach the missing-nin and turn him into a black crisp on the floor, it was met in midair by an explosion of water seemingly from nowhere. A tepid cloud of steam filled the room with a hiss, obscuring the view. All this happened within seconds.

"What the hell just happened?" Grissom asked, staring at the white, steamy cloud with a look between fascination and disbelief. As the steam condensed and thinned, he could vaguely see two shapes in the middle, darting forward and backward with incredible speed. Sara thought she could make out a flash of yellow as one figure slammed into the other, sending it flying into the wall.

"Baka!" Kakashi's scowling face came into view now, wearing the look usually found on exasperated teachers when talking to certain pranksters or loud-mouthed Uchihas, a most unusual look for someone Kakashi's age. But Sara and Grissom were past the point where they could feel any shock at something as small. "Don't look! Go!" the silver-haired boy urged.

Sara opened her mouth to reply, but Kakashi suddenly cursed in his native language and pushed her forward with a strength that she did not expect to come from a wounded nine-year-old. She was about to protest angrily when she felt something whoosh by the back of her head, followed by a dull thud as it embedded itself into the wall.

In her periphery vision, she could see a black kunai sticking out of the wall where her head had been just moments before. A few strands of dark hair—her hair, she realized after a moment—floated to the ground. For a few moments she just stood there, then the shock of what had almost happened kicked in. Even though this was not her first time in a life-or-death situation, two times a day was still too much for her. Her legs turned to jelly again.

This time, she did fall, and barely avoided hitting the ground hard as Kakashi grabbed onto her arm, trying to support her. Unfortunately, he was not in the best of shapes himself and gasped in pain as the pressure on his wounded shoulder increased and her increased weight almost brought him to his knees. Fortunately for the two of them, Grissom still had some wits about him and quickly swung Sara's arm over his shoulder, taking the weight of the boy.

"See. Dangerous. We leave now." Kakashi said rather testily. Though he knew he wasn't supposed to show emotion, he still wanted to get out of here fast, before the two jonin started using the _really_ dangerous jutsus.

_Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!_

Too late.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he saw the missing-nin finish the last few hand seals to the complicated but devastating technique. He started dragging the two civilians towards cover, which unfortunately was non-existent in their current situation.

Grissom and Sara watched with wide eyes at the scene behind them, specifically at the huge, aqua blue dragon made of water that was appearing in front of the missing-nin. The dragon, as if it had a will of its own, glowered at them through two yellow spots where its eyes would be. It opened its mouth, a gaping black hole that seemed to open into a watery death.

There was no avoiding what came next.

*~*~*

Minato cursed violently as he saw the dragon of water form in front of them, looking too large for even the warehouse. _How does he have enough chakra to use these techniques so quickly?_ The Yellow Flash wondered, _He should have be knocked out by my kick, but he looks completely unharmed._

He met eyes with the missing-nin, who smirked at him smugly, in a way that indicated imminent pain of death. And Minato noticed that his eyes were glowing.

Well shit. That explained the unnatural amounts of chakra; the Three-Tails would obviously try its hardest to help out its minion, even supplying chakra. This made things a bit more complicated, but Minato had no time to worry about this, because the wall of water that had sprayed out of the dragon's mouth with enough force to tear through the walls as if they were paper was headed straight towards him.

So of course, he did the first thing that came to his mind, which was biting his thumb and slamming his hand down on the ground, praying fervently that he was going to make it in time.

_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!_

Sara's first thought after seeing the jutsu was _God, it's a dragon._ And her second thought was _This wasn't in the job description_ quickly followed by the obvious _We're going to die._

Faced with a wall of water that could probably crush them with the sheer weight, she was sure that this was the end. This was not her first time thinking that she was going to die, but now she could feel it almost like a tangible thing in the atmosphere, making her skin crawl with a clammy feeling and her stomach churn and breathing on her so that the hairs stood up on her arms and the back of her neck.

And though she couldn't see him, she had the feeling that Grissom was frozen in the same state as her. Not even the most hardened CSIs could move before this, for lack of a better word, tsunami.

Beside her, Kakashi tensed. His body screamed at him to move, but his mind argued that he had to protect these civilians because it was a mission his sensei—his superior officer—had assigned to him. He was a shinobi before everything else, so he cursed and grabbed Sara and Grissom's arms, pulling them so that they were huddled together in a small group and would not be separated when the wave hit.

Briefly, he saw his sensei slam his hand into the ground before they were engulfed in water; it was a move that any chunin was familiar with, and one that Kakashi had performed himself countless times before.

The water washed over them like a mountain, pushing the air out of their lungs and filling their ears and mouths with the cold wetness. Kakashi clung tightly to Sara and Grissom, who had the sense to hold on to each other too, and hoped that his sensei had finished his summoning in time.

Sara, on the other hand, was just a few millimeters away from panicking, but years of drills and training that she had to suffer through before becoming a CSI told her to keep calm and analyze the situation. Right. She was drowning in a pool of water that had come out of the mouth of a dragon which had been summoned by a ninja.

She felt the panic rising again, threatening to flood over and reduce her to a screaming, weeping mess or let herself be carried away by the current. And she probably would have too, if it weren't for the incredibly stubborn, silver-haired boy clinging onto her arm. Even as she realized this, his grip tightened, as if he knew what she was thinking. He looked up at her with tired, fathomless eyes that somehow conveyed a sense of assurance, telling her that everything would be okay.

And Kakashi knew that everything would somehow turn out okay, because at that moment he felt a new chakra signal coming from below.

Grissom always believed that the world was governed by unbreakable laws. He would sooner believe that Greg would start to show up at work in a suit and tie and start listening to opera (which he knew would surely herald the end of the world) than even consider these near-sacred principles to be bent in the slightest. But in light of recent events, he was starting to doubt it.

First of all, people were not supposed to breathe fire. Secondly, water was supposed to fall, not collect together and form shapes. Those were things that only happened in cheesy fantasy movies, never in real life. Yet it had happened, and the cold water tearing at his body and filling his mouth like ice was too real to be a hallucination.

Besides, hallucinations couldn't kill you, but he had no doubt that this could.

Suddenly, all three of them felt solid ground under their feet, and Grissom wondered briefly if the water was starting to recede. But he soon found out that it was just the opposite; the floor had risen to support them, and they were only a few feet beneath the ceiling.

Two shivering, soaking wet but very thankful CSIs and one silver-haired chunin too tired to care found themselves on floating above the water on a strange island-like….thing. Sara ran her hand over the bumpy but strangely soft surface on which they sat. It was a mottled reddish color and Sara had a nagging feeling that she knew what it was but could not pinpoint exactly what it reminded her of.

"What the-what on earth just happened?" Sara murmured.

"Is only Gamabunta." A voice next to her answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

The blonde ninja, also dripping wet, stood a few feet away from the strange reddish platform that had risen beneath them, and it took the CSIs a few moments to notice that he was standing on the surface of the water.

"You're standing on the water." Grissom said in disbelief. His voice was almost accusing, as if standing on water were as criminal as breaking any of the laws made by man.

Minato opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off abruptly as another voice interjected. It was a deep-throated voice that rumbled like thunder and spoke in the same strange language that all the ninja knew. As the voice sounded, the platform below them reverberated like a miniature earthquake. And though they couldn't understand what it was saying, the CSIs could tell that it was annoyed in the same way an old person is annoyed at children trying to make them play a game.

Minato replied, sounding sheepish and apologetic and gesturing in their direction. The voice grumbled again, and suddenly a large part of the platform they were sitting on rose up smoothly above the rest, and the CSIs could see two round, protruding sections that looked eerily familiar. It was almost as if the platform had a head.

The head turned around, blinking two golden, black-slitted eyes staring at them curiously.

"Oh god…." Sara murmured, realizing just what it was.

The deep voice rumbled again in grudging agreement to whatever Minato had said before turning around again.

"What is this?" Grissom asked aloud, voicing the thoughts of both CSIs.

"He is sum-mum. Gamabunta." Minato explained. Seeing their confused looks, he added, "Is…how you say?...Am-fib-ee-an."

Sara's eyes widened. Amphibian… she suddenly remembered what the mottled red, bumpy skin had reminded her of. A toad. They were sitting on top of a giant, red, talking toad.

*~*~*

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: As it turns out, this chapter was longer than I expected, which explains my slow update (I don't have any other excuse). There will probably be one more chapter, plus an epilogue. Can't wait to finish my first over 30,000 word fanfic! :) Review please!

**The Ninja Game**

**Chapter Fifteen**

Minato stood on top of the water, ignoring the wet droplets dripping into his eyes, waiting anxiously for the others to surface. He had, thankfully completed the summoning on time, though he knew Gamabunta would not be happy that he had been summoned to fight in foreign this place, wherever it was. Still, he was pretty desperate to have called upon the toad boss himself, and he hoped that this would be enough to counter the Three-Tails chakra. But first he had to save Kakashi and the two civilians.

When the bulky mass of the toad boss' body finally rose to the surface, along with one relieved chunin and two utterly confused civilians who looked like they had just narrowly avoided a watery death but were still confused as to what had saved them.

"What the hell just happened?" Sara wondered.

"Is only Gamabunta." Minato replied. Maybe they had heard the name before, after all the toad boss was pretty well known in certain circles. The blank look on her face told him that there was no chance.

"You're standing on the water." The one called Grissom said in disbelief.

They seemed to be completely blown away by his ability to stand on the surface of the water, as if they had never seen it before. Which they probably hadn't, considering the fact that they had also been blown away by the wall-climbing technique.

Minato opened his mouth to reply, but-

"What the hell did you call me here for, brat! I was busy with something!" the thundering voice of Gamabunta sounded before the blonde could speak. "Do you want to be swallowed again?" Minato flinched slightly at the mention of his last…unfortunate encounter with the slightly irritable toad boss, which he had barely survived but in which he had won the approval of said toad. They were still a long way from mutual respect, but they were getting there.

"Um, I think I'll pass this time." He replied sheepishly. Then turning serious, "I need your help, Gamabunta-sama." He said respectfully, and quickly explained the situation.

"My student is injured, so I need to end this quickly." He finished.

"Hmm…your student?" Gamabunta turned his head, looking back as much as he could at the three people on his back. Sara and Grissom's eyes widened until they were in danger of falling out at the sight, not that Gamabunta noticed. Kakashi gave a weak right-handed salute, knowing better than to be anything other than respectful to the prominent summon.

"Alright then." Gamabunta grudgingly acquiesced, "I'll help. But you'll owe me, kid."

"Arigato." Minato breathed thankfully.

"So where is this Three-tailed freak?"

Minato looked around, scanning for chakra signatures. Just his luck that this opponent could hide his chakra without a trace.

"Don't tell me you lost it!" Gamabunta all but roared, causing Sara and Grissom to stumble back into sitting positions from the vibrations.

"What the hell is this!?" Grissom demanded, looking towards Minato, as if he was the one responsible.

"Um, I think…." Sara touched her supervisor's shoulder, getting his attention, "You might think I'm crazy, but I'm pretty sure that we're standing on….a toad."

Grissom stared at her with an expression between disbelief and betrayal, a I-can't-believe-you-of-all-people-are-falling-for-this look.

"Hai, Gamabunta is toad." Kakashi confirmed softly, "Toad boss." He added with emphasis.

Grissom turned to him, opening his mouth. But before the older CSI could ask his question, Kakashi stiffened again, "Hold tight." He ordered, grabbing a hold of the dark cloth that served as a jacket of sorts to the large toad.

By now the other two had realized that whenever the boy told them to hold tight, something bad was going to happen, and they attached themselves to the piece of clothing in no time at all.

Sure enough, as soon as they had secured their grip, Gamabunta moved with speed that was amazing for something his size, dodging to the side just in time to avoid a large column of that seemed to have materialized from nowhere. The three "passengers" on his back were thrown unceremoniously to the side, staying on only because of their death grips on the back of his shirt. Sara had the sense to grab onto Kakashi, who did not look as if he could hold on much longer.

"Arigato." The boy murmured, as soon as they had managed to get a grip on the elusive surface.

"Found you!" Gamabunta growled, completely unaware of the near-crisis that he had just caused. His attention was focused instead on the new target that had just appeared.

The missing-nin was now standing on the surface of the water, across from Minato, matching the blonde's laser glare with his own arrogant smirk. "I see you've brought some help, but a mere frog is not going to be of much use to you." The Mist shinobi taunted. The aura of the Three-Tails rolled off him in noisome waves.

Minato almost laughed. This was exactly the kind of thing that would get Gamabunta riled up enough to start getting serious; the missing-nin had just done the equivalent of signing his own death certificate. As expected, the toad boss did not appreciate being called a mere toad.

"WHAT did you just call me?" the toad lord bellowed in a voice that would have made any lesser man—or someone more sane—cringe. Even Kakashi flinched at the sheer volume of the voice, while Sara and Grissom covered their ears to stop them from bleeding.

As it was, the missing-nin turned towards him with a slightly insane smile, "Is the little frog mad now? Does it want to hop back home before it gets eaten?"

"That does it!" Gamabunta growled, "Come on, brat, we're gonna make it so that no one will recognize what's left of him!"

"Yes, sir." Minato answered almost happily in a tone that Gamabunta would have considered insolent if he hadn't been so enraged. He leapt lightly onto the toad's large head.

"Don't even bother…" the Mist-nin said. "With this power at my control, not even Konoha can stop me!"

"Arrogant bastard." Minato commented. He definitely did not want to miss the satisfaction of ripping him apart.

"Let's do this." Gamabunta agreed, taking his oversized pipe out of his mouth.

"I'm so scared." The missing-nin taunted, bringing his hands together. "What are you going to do? Croak at me?"

"Heh, just watch…" Minato muttered, forming hand seals of his own.

"I think they're doing it again." Sara muttered, staring up at the blonde from her position on the toad's back. "We should hold on." Kakashi and Grissom nodded in agreement, each tightening his grip on the fabric, tensing for what was about to happen.

"Ready yet?" Gamabunta asked impatiently.

"Now!" Minato finished his hand seals and slammed his hand down on Gamabunta's back, sending his chakra flowing into the toad boss's system.

Gamabunta opened his mouth wide, releasing a powerful column of water aimed towards the missing-nin. It was a powerful technique, a combination between shinobi and summon that was strong enough to blow a hole through a small mountain.

Instead of cowering away in fear like any other reasonable shinobi, the missing-nin stood his ground, like someone with ad death wish. He held up a hand.

There was an explosion of chakra, deadly and menacing, from the missing-nin's body. It furled around him almost protectively, splitting the column of water down the middle like an invisible blade. The water blew harmlessly by, though it still had enough force to blow two holes through the far wall instead of the missing-nin.

Gamabunta cursed loudly as the excess chakra blew over to him, pushing him back. Minato ducked quickly, narrowly avoiding the ceiling of the warehouse as the toad boss jumped up slightly to avoid the brunt of the blow. As for the CSIs and Kakashi, they simply hung on for dear life, something easy in theory but much harder when you're clinging to a massive frog's shirt while it's flapping in the wind of a chakra-powered blast.

"It's the Three-tails chakra!" Minato shouted.

"You think I don't know that, brat? Shut up and think of something!" Gamabunta snapped back, unimpressed.

"Scared yet? Well you should be. 'Cause now it's my turn." The missing-nin smirked. He held up his hand parallel to the ground in front of his chest. The chakra flowed from his hands like the water had spilled from Gamabunta's mouth, separating into tendrils of chakra so dense that they were visible to the naked eye, like thousands of tiny, black, grasping hands reaching towards them.

"Shit! Again, brat!" Gamabunta exclaimed.

"Hai," Minato grunted, increasing his flow of chakra to the toad.

Gamabunta's mouth opened again, this time to release a stream of fire, hot enough to sear even the water, leaving a line of steam on surface. The missing-nin countered with his own seemingly endless stream of Three-tails chakra.

The two streams of raw power met in the middle of the warehouse with an explosion large enough to scorch the ceiling and send gusts of hot air flying through the warehouse, tearing chunks from the walls as if they were paper. Sara instinctively moved closer to Kakashi, shielding the injured boy with her own body while covering her face with one arm.

Grissom, in a similar position, stared wide-eyed, as if trying to see through the cloud of steam now filling the room. _Such power! _But there was no way to tell who was winning. To the untrained civilian eye, the two shinobi seemed evenly matched, one with his giant toad and one with his creepy, dark aura. But Kakashi's brow was furrowed with worry; he could tell that his sensei was struggling to keep up.

_Kuso! He's strong._ Minato thought, sweat and condensed water beading on his forehead. And sure enough, he could feel the dark chakra pushing their attack back. Minato could feel Gamabunta exuding frustration under his feet, and he increased his chakra.

_At this rate, we'll be blown away._

The steam dissipated, blown through the holes in the walls, which now resembled swiss cheese more than cement walls, by the wind from the blast. The bright orange and red glow of Gamabunta's fire raged against the dark Three-tails chakra. Even the level of the water had fallen considerably in the wake of their attacks.

"Who's winning?" Sara asked, staring at the warring energies converged in the center of the room.

"I can't tell." Grissom replied honestly.

"Sensei is losing." Kakashi's soft voice cut through their uncertainties, and they turned to look at the silver-haired boy, who was sitting up and holding his arm but otherwise showed no outward sign of pain. The only indication of emotion was the slight frown, as if he were considering a difficult problem.

"He's…losing?" the two CSIs looked back towards the crux of the battle. This time, it was clear that Gamabunta's flame was being pushed back.

Minato could feel his chakra draining at an alarming rate as he poured it into the toad boss' attack, but it was still not enough. _Just a while longer…_Gamabunta's thoughts leaked into his mind through the connection between summon and summoner, a substitute for words that Gamabunta could not utter at the moment, due to his attack.

_Until what?_ Minato sent back, not as respectful as he could have been. Frankly, he was not in the mood for riddles.

A mental chuckle was the toad boss' reply. _You'll see, kid._

Minato rolled his eyes, _Whatever it is, it will have to be soon. In case you haven't noticed, we're about to be eaten by the Three-Tails chakra._

_Patience, brat._

Despite the situation, Minato felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. Trust Gamabuntao to lecture someone else on a quality he himself lacked and manage to sound knowledgeable all the same.

"Pathetic." The missing-nin's voice broke through the mental conversation, "If this is the best you have, then I'll finish this quickly!"

Gamabunta's flame was pushed almost back to the toad by the dark chakra. Knowing that there was no way to stop the flow, Gamabunta closed his mouth, leaping out of the way just in time to dodge the line of dark chakra. Unfortunately, this movement also sent him careening into the wall, much to the discomfort of his passengers.

"Be more careful, damnit!" Minato said in alarm, peering down over Gamabunta's back to see if the civilians or Kakashi had been squished.

"We're fine." Sara waved to show that she was unhurt. She could understand his tone if not his words.

"Relatively speaking." Grissom muttered, nursing his bruised arm where it had slammed into the wall.

"You think it was easy dodging that? Why don't you come down and try it yourself? Stupid, naïve brat!" Gamabunta growled, skidding to a stop. Now they were outside the tight (for Gamabunta) confines of the warehouse and standing in the parking lot, empty of everything save Grissom's car. Fortunately, they were far from most homes, and the few people would be out here at this time.

Still, the sight of a giant toad crashing out of a supposedly abandoned warehouse was enough to send the homeless man who had chosen a nearby bridge to be his home for the night scrambling away in shock. Carefully, the three passengers slid off Gamabunta's back, tumbling to the ground on the asphalt of the lot.

The missing-nin stepped from the warehouse through the huge hole that Gamabunta had made, looking smug with the self-satisfaction of one who knows there he is invincible. "If you run now," he sneered, "I'll give you a head start."

Minato scowled, but there was a hint of uncertainty in his eyes. Both he and the missing-nin had been spending chakra non-stop for the past few minutes, yet he was the only one breathing hard. "Take the civilians and go." He muttered to Kakashi.

The boy looked up at him wide-eyed, then opened his mouth as if to protest. But after a moment he closed his mouth and nodded, a dark look on his face. He knew that his sensei did not want them to be caught in the all-out fight to the death that would inevitably ensue. Sara, noticing Kakashi's reaction, had an inkling of what the blonde had said. "Wait a minute," she protested, "We can't just leave you…"

"Go. Now." Minato interrupted in English, speaking with the authority of one used to giving orders and having them obeyed.

"Trying to be the hero?" the missing-nin taunted, "But they won't get far. And I still owe the white-haired brat over there a little something." He nodded towards Kakashi.

"You touch him," Minato growled, "and I'll-"

"Protective, aren't we? Too bad there's nothing you'll be able to do, since you'll be dead too."

"Hn, you're too arrogant for your own good." Gamabutna interrupted the two shinobi, "It's gonna get you killed really soon."

"What are you talking about, stupid frog?" the missing-nin turned his attention back to the toad boss. "I'll fry you for your insolence!" he raised a hand, gathering what looked like a handful of night sky but was actually the dark chakra collecting in his palm. It seemed to burn with its own light of a spectrum that no one could see, but the power was evident.

The civilians, who could not sense chakra, were even affected, the hairs standing up on the backs of their necks, an unexplained fear releasing adrenaline to course through their veins, the feeling of being hunted by a being that they could not see but knew was there…

The missing-nin laughed, taking a step forwards with his charka-charged hand uplifted. Minato bit his lip, knowing that one hit from that hand would mean a certain death. The Three-tails was almost a tangible presence, crying for blood.

"Whatever it was you were waiting for," he muttered to Gamabunta, "It better come _now_."

"It's almost here, brat!" Gamabunta grumbled back, but the toad boss' own nervousness was not lost on Minato; the Three-Tails was no ordinary opponent, even for the prominent toad summon.

"Almost isn't enough!" Minato snapped. The missing-nin was even closer now, but he was in no hurry, like a predator relishing the fear of his prey.

"You think I don't know that, brat? But it'll be any second now."

"What are you muttering about?" the missing-nin asked, scowling. "It won't help you-"

He froze suddenly, a strange look between disbelief and shock crossed his face, slowly turning into something akin to fear. "What, no!" he shouted, "You can't—no!"

For the first time since the Three-Tails' intervention, Minato felt a glimmer of hope: the dark chakra in the missing-nin's hand had started to change. It lost its dark hue, lightening until it was the color of ordinary blue chakra, and it started to dissipate, dimming until it was no longer visible, no longer a threat.

Gamabunta chuckled, "See, brat? Always listen to the boss."

The oppressive atmosphere had all but disappeared, an effect that even the CSIs could feel. "What happened?" Sara wondered out loud, "His power just seemed to vanish…"

"It is mid-night." Kakashi's soft voice answered her question in English. "Past dead-line."

"No…" the missing-nin moaned, grabbing his wrist as if he could will the Three-Tails back.

"Now who's gonna die?" Gamabunta asked, the threat mixed with amusement. The missing-nin's eyes snapped to the toad, "Watch it, frog-face. I still have a few tricks left."

Minato shook his head as he felt Gamabunta literally swelling with indignant rage beneath his feet. The missing-nin really had no idea when to run. No wonder Kirigakure disowned him.

"Let's get this over with." he said with a sigh.

*~*~*

TBC

A/N: Am I dragging it out? 'Cause I feel like I'm dragging it out…I was supposed to finish the fight in this chapter…


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I would have finished this chapter earlier, but I had to go to my cousin's graduation ceremony which took forever…ugh, but I'm finally done. Yay, only one epilogue left! Please review!

**The Ninja Game**

**Chapter Sixteen**

The two shinobi stood unmoving, each trying to stare down the other, giving the onlookers the impression of two alpha-wolves preparing to fight for dominance. Kakashi, Grissom and Sara stood a safe distance behind, the orders to escape completely forgotten in their insistence to watch the fight through. Besides, they could not reach Grissom's car from where they were standing, and it was their only chance to escape quickly.

The air of an impending battle hung heavily around the scene.

Then, as if a silent cue had been given, the two ninjas started to move, each forming hand seals too quickly for the civilians to discern the individual motions. The missing-nin slammed his hand down on the ground, the same moment that Minato placed his own hand on Gamabunta's back, releasing a flow of chakra.

Gamabunta's mouth opened to release a flow of water again in a strong column, aiming straight towards the missing-nin with enough force to knock out an elephant. A second before impact, a wall of liquid rose up before the Mist-nin, protecting him from Gamabunta and Minato's combined blast.

The wall stayed up for a few seconds after the blast hit it, then fell down, sloshing water all over the parking lot. The missing-nin was open once more, wearing a frustrated expression, but with no signs of panic or intention to lose.

"Damn you," he growled, panting slightly. It was clear that the fight was taking its toll on him, and now, without the help of the Three-tails, he was running low on chakra.

Minato silently thanked kami for his own seemingly inexhaustible well of power. He almost felt sorry for the missing-nin, who obviously had no reserves whatsoever. Almost. It didn't keep him from feeling a deep satisfaction as Gamabunta's next attack hit the missing-nin head on, slamming into him with a sickening crunch that signaled at least a few broken or fractured bones.

Grissom and Sara, however, winced in sympathy, not used to seeing such brutal combat. "Is he…" Sara started, but trailed off, leaving the question hanging. They could all imagine, to some extent, the affects of the attack.

When the dust cleared, the missing-nin slowly stepped out of the crater in the wall, swaying on his feet but still standing nonetheless. "That was nothing…" his voice was still as arrogant as it was when he still had the Three-Tails, "Compared to what I could have been…"

_He' really doesn't know when to stop._ Minato thought, not without some contempt, _Or he's completely obsessed with power._

"I'll finish this." He said, jumping lightly off Gamabunta's head. He what he gauged, he still had enough chakra for one last strike, and he still had to pay the missing-nin back for Kakashi's injuries.

"Hn. Fine, but you'd better make it a good hit." The toad boss grudgingly acquiesced. Truth be told, he was quite interested in what the brat had to offer, but whatever it was, he knew that there would be some painful retribution.

"I won't," the missing-nin panted, "Be defeated!" A fanatical gleam was in his eyes, which, combined with exhaustion and the trickle of blood running out of the corner of his mouth and dribbling off his chin, made him look more demonic than ever. He stumbled forwards a few steps, barely managing to keep on his feet. It seemed as if the last attack had caused some internal damage as well.

But Minato was unperturbed, staring coldly at his opponent as he gathered his chakra. The technique he was about to use was a new one, and it was his first time using it in real combat. Still, the blonde jonin was sure that it would be enough to finish the fight.

The chakra collected in his hand, a swirling mass of blue that strangely resembled the missing-nin's last attack. The missing-nin's eyes widened, then narrowed, but he made no move to escape, or perhaps he was too injured to move.

Gamabunta was slightly surprised at the sight of the brat's new technique; it was quite powerful, incorporating the highest level of physical manipulation. Even he could not help but feel a tiny bit of admiration, even grudging respect. It was not easy to create a new jutsu from scratch. Okay, maybe there was more than a little respect, but the toad boss was not going to let the boy know that, it would only inflate his ego.

The chakra in Minato's hand was spinning randomly in all directions. Compacted into a small orb that fit snugly in the palm of his hand, the ball of chakra was literally an explosion in a smaller form. "Is this good enough for you?" Minato asked Gamabunta challengingly.

"Good enough." Gamabunta replied, "But don't get any delusions of grandeur. It's still far from complete."

"Whatever that is, it won't do you any good." The missing-nin rasped, "I am immortal."

"And I've had enough of your arrogance." Minato growled. He tensed, raising the hand holding the spinning ball of chakra, "This is the end."

From a safe distance away, Grissom was watching with increasing alarm. If the logic of fantasy movies held—because normal logic obviously did not at the moment—then the two shinobi had just exchanged threats and were about to finish each other off. Finishing the other person off usually meant one thing.

"Is he going to…" Grissom's voice, though he had tried to keep it composed, betrayed his apprehension.

Kakashi glanced towards the civilian, "Hai." He said calmly. "Kill." As soon as the words left his mouth, he bit his lip, cursing his own slip of the tongue. How could he have forgotten? Civilians were always so sensitive towards that kind of stuff.

Both Grissom and Sara's eyes widened for the hundredth time that night. "But he can't-"

It was too late, and Minato started charging towards the missing-nin, his blue eyes as hard as ice, with clear intent to kill. The missing-nin moved his hands feebly, as if to make some hand seals, but there was not enough time.

And, as he moved in for the kill, Minato shouted, for the first time, the name of his new technique.

"Rasengan!"

*~*~*

The CSIs watched with growing horror as the ball of light made contact, a direct hit with devastating results. The missing-nin's eyes widened, staring at the blonde in disbelief and pain and fear. The Rasengan ground into his stomach, his body arched backwards almost gracefully, and Minato's ice blue eyes met his in an emotionless gaze that gave no reasons.

The missing-nin coughed up blood, splattering the blonde's face and jonin vest, leaving bright red stains to add to the ones Kakashi had left. He opened his mouth again, dribbling blood, "No…im…poss…" the disbelief in his eyes was that of a man who has just been on the top of the world and woken to find that he has fallen, and the distance to the bottom will kill him.

The Rasengan died down, taking with it most of Minato's chakra. But it was clear he would not need it any more. Slowly, the missing-nin's body slid to the side, falling off his killer's bloodstained hand halfway embedded in his body. Minato sighed, letting the body fall to land in a broken heap at his feet. Though he had completed the mission now, he felt no satisfaction from killing, only relief that it was finally over.

"Good job, brat." Gamabunta spoke in his deep, croaking voice. Was he just imagining it, or was there some admiration in that voice? "Well, now that it's over with, I'll take my leave. And don't think I've forgotten about calling me out at such a time, brat. You do that again and I'll reintroduce you to the inside of my mouth." And with that, the toad boss' massive bulk disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Behind them, there was a strangled-sounding noise from Sara.

"You..." she started to say, staring at the body, which had a hole in the front and the organs literally pouring out and blood pooling in a growing puddle, mixing with the water and turning it dark crimson, "He…he isn't…Is he?"

"Dead? Hai." Minato replied carelessly, wiping his hand on his shirt. He frowned in slight distaste, blood always took forever to wash off.

Sara and Grissom stared at him, at a loss for words. In the dim light from a nearby streetlamp—for the moon was only a small silver dime in the sky that gave off no light to illuminate things—Minato stood soaked in dark liquid, his tan face splattered with dots of red. It was a scene from a horror film now, complete with the blood and gore and the darkness and, most importantly, psychotic killer(s).

"Let's go." Minato murmured in his native language, addressing Kakashi. The boy nodded, rising from his sitting position, not noticing the intent way that the CSIs stared at his sensei.

Seeing Minato's carefully expressionless face, for some inexplicable reason, made Sara's blood boil. "Why did you kill him!?" she shouted furiously. Minato blinked at her, slight confusion showing through the emotionless façade before disappearing as fast as it had appeared. Kakashi also stared at her with mild surprise, wondering what was wrong. The missing-nin was dead, wasn't he? And that was all that mattered to him.

"Was a mis-shun." Minato answered calmly. These kinds of reactions were not uncommon among civilians who inadvertently saw the shinobi in action. They, who lived their lives sheltered from the slaughter and intrigue of the ninja wold, simply could not understand the shinobi way of life, the kill-or-be-killed way of living that every ninja was inured to.

"I agree with Sara." Grissom was calmer than his colleague, but the disapproval and slightly veiled anger was still discernable in his voice.

Minato shrugged, suddenly feeling very tired. "He was a killer." The blonde said, not caring what they thought of him. It was not as if they had a large chance of meeting again after this incident.

Sara's scowl deepened, "And you're just the same as him!"

Minato froze, glancing at her with a strange look in his eyes. The civilians never understood that the shinobi felt the burden of killing as heavily as anyone else, and to lose the guilt or succumb to the power was to give in to madness like the missing-nin. Even in this strange land, it was still the same.

The suppressed fear and indignant anger in Sara's eyes were all the confirmation Minato needed. He looked away. He knew he should not be so affected by the opinions of civilians, but for some reason the bitter feeling still persisted. Guilt aside, he really was no different from the missing-nin, merely a tool for killing. For his own ambitions or for the ambition of a village, what difference did it make? The hitae-ate that they both wore, one symbolizing loyalty to a village and one representing betrayal, were more similar than different.

"Sensei…" Kakashi's voice brought Minato out of his thoughts. The blonde looked up to see the boy's dark eyes glancing at him worriedly, filled with bemusement. One hand was clutched tightly on his arm, and though the red had stopped seeping through his fingers, his clothes and hair were still stained with dried blood and wet with water. His small frame was shivering slightly in the cool night air, eliciting a jab of guilt from Minato.

_Of course, how could I have forgotten Kakashi._

Minato's mouth curved into a smile, his eyes creasing into crescents. The hesitation was gone, replaced with something else. As long as his precious student was alright…

"It's nothing." He said lightly, "The mission is over now."

"Hai, sensei." Kakashi's expression reflected Minato's own relief. So it was.

But, as things always were on missions, the loose ends came back to haunt them. "Wait!" Sara's shout stopped both of them in their tracks.

"You can't go with him!" she said, turning towards Kakashi, "He's a murderer!"

Grissom, standing by Sara, agreed, "We'll get you in contact with child services. They'll find a normal home for you."

The boy's brow creased in a frown, "Iie, I go home. With sensei."

It was clear that Grissom and Sara did not understand why Kakashi would still want to be with Minato after everything that he had seen.

"It's okay," Sara said gently, "We won't let _anyone_ hurt you-"

Minato sighed in exasperation. This was, he supposed, normal civilian behavior in this land, but he still had his limits. "Kakashi go with me." He said firmly, his voice implying that anyone who disagreed would be forcefully taken out of the picture.

Sara sent another chilling glare in his direction, "Don't even think about it. You're a killer, you won't be granted custody of him."

"Shinobi all kill." Minato agreed. _Me, and Kakashi. We are shinobi._

"To murder someone defenseless, in cold blood like that," Sara said coldly, "How are you any different from that Ripper killer?"

Minato sent a glance towards the corpse of the Mist-nin, but there was no longer any confusion in the young jonin's eyes. "He kill," Minato said, "For power. I kill," he glanced towards Kakashi, "To protect."

It was Sara's turn to freeze as his words registered in her mind. _To protect…_

"Let's go." Minato said for the last time.

"What do you mean-" Grissom started to stay, but stopped suddenly.

The two shinobi were gone.

Like the shadows in the morning's light, they had disappeared as silently as they had come, leaving no trace behind, and no answers but more questions.

Then, as a final whisper on the wind, the two CSIs heard,

_Sayonara._

*~*~*

Grissom's face was uncharacteristically stony as he drove silently down the highway, mostly deserted this late at night, towards the lab where he knew the others would be waiting for them to return. Beside him, Sara sat in the passenger seat, silent and brooding. There was no sound other than the hum of the engine and their own thoughts in their heads. The red light of the digital clock monitor glowed softly, reading 12:16.

Finally, the grim silence was broken by Sara. "Why did he have to do that?" she burst out angrily, but Grissom was startled to see a wetness in her eyes when he glanced towards her in his periphery vision. The betrayal she felt was also evident in her pained voice.

"I suppose it's just the way they do things. What had happened that night all seemed like a bad dream, behind them and ready to be forgotten. If Sara hadn't seen it as well, he would have believed it was a dream, and he still desperately wished that it was. It was against all logic, not that logic could be applied.

"Still, it was _murder._" Sara insisted.

Grissom did not reply.

"You agree with me, right?" Sara asked, slightly put off.

There was a moment of silence, then, "What can we do about it?" Grissom finally said softly, his eyes staring forward, not daring to glance towards Sara. She stared at him, not knowing whether to be angry or exasperated.

"Just take a minute to think about it," Grissom continued, "After everything we've seen tonight, do you really think that, even if we have all the police in Las Vegas, we'll be able to arrest him?"

It was Sara's turn to fall silent; the answer was obvious.

"Some things just can't be helped." Grissom concluded. "The good guys don't win all the time, and sometimes it is hard to tell the good from the bad. We just have to let things go."

The sullen silence after his words persisted, and after a minute he spoke again, "At least we know now that the Ripper murders won't happen again."

"I still don't like it." Sara muttered. She could see the reasoning in his words, and logic was telling her to do as he said, but her heart was objecting. "It's…not right."

"Not much ever is." Grissom said sadly, "It's all part of this job."

The rest of the ride back to the lab was in silence.

*~*~*

"How do you feel?" Minato asked his silver-haired apprentice anxiously.

"Fine." Was the laconic answer. The boy's injuries had been cleaned, somewhat healed, and bandaged again, and he had taken a soldier pill to replenish his chakra. Still, Kakashi was pale as a ghost and obviously tired.

Suddenly, he yawned, widely enough for his jaw to crack. Minato's eyes softened, creasing into a smile. "Tired?" he asked. Kakashi nodded, too exhausted to even deny it.

"Get some rest." Minato ordered, before he was cut off by a yawn of his own. The small apartment they had "borrowed" for the night was unfurnished and had the distinctive smell of a place that had not seen a human being for a few weeks, but it was secure enough. They both could do with some sleep.

"Hai, sensei…" Kakashi replied, mostly out of habit. But he did not sleep, but frowned suddenly, with a serious expression on his face.

"What is it?" Minato asked.

"When are we…leaving?" Kakashi asked gravely.

The blonde paused for a second, "You mean going home?" Kakashi nodded, staring at his sensei impatiently for the answer. It was obvious that he did not want to stay in the strange city called 'Las Vegas'.

Minato could not help the smile that stretched across his face. "Don't worry, we'll head home tomorrow."

Satisfied with the answer, Kakashi finally allowed his eyelids to droop shut. He was fast asleep in seconds.

The silver-haired boy, when he was awake, acted much older than his years, but asleep, he could have been any cute nine-year-old, even through the bandages wrapped around his body. Minato smiled, feeling the warmth of his apprentice's small body against his own.

Tomorrow, they would finally go home. They would return to Konoha.

*~*~*

TBC


	17. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: Finally! The last chapter! I want to cry with happiness since I finally finished a story… but I still have a lot of ideas for further stories, if I could just move my lazy butt and get them down on paper…

Anyways, enjoy the last chapter/epilogue!

**The Ninja Game**

**Epilogue**

Two months had passed since the Ripper murders stopped, and two months since a mysterious fire had burned down an abandoned warehouse in the middle of Las Vegas (surprisingly no one was hurt and a few witnesses had claimed to see a mysterious blonde figure wearing a flak jacket and green vest, but no evidence had been found besides a particularly charred soot that vaguely resembled a human outline).

Sara and Grissom still worked at the Las Vegas crime lab, though they, along with several other members of the lab, had been forced to take two weeks off due to "stress-induced behavioral abnormalities and possible hallucinations", or, as Brass called it, "this bullshit is the best you could think of?", and as Ecklie called it, "why we should fire Gil".

Fortunately, they all kept their jobs, and Greg was even attempting to become a full-fledged CSI instead of just a lab tech. The events from two months before seemed almost like a dream, a bad one too, at least for Sara and Grissom (the other CSIs were still trying to wheedle out the exact details, since the two of them figured the few people who knew the better).

Grissom sighed deeply, filing away the last of the paperwork on his most recent case; after nearly thirty years as a CSI he still could not understand why a simple robbery required so much writing. As he walked through the lab, the first rays of dawn coming through the window and signaling the end of his shift, he caught sight of a familiar figure sitting alone in the evidence room.

She sat with her head resting tiredly on her hand, her dark brown hair obscuring her face. Partially laid-out in front of her, as if she had changed her mind halfway through, was the evidence from the Ripper case, though it was long cold since the killings had stopped after the fateful night eight weeks ago. As he approached, she did not stir or give any sign that she had noticed him.

As he got closer, he saw that she was staring at a particular piece of evidence. "Remembering again?" he asked, recognizing the thing that had so captivated Sara's attention.

It was a headband, dull silver metal on a blue cloth, engraved with the abstract swirl and beak that could be anything from a leaf to a snail or the head of a bird. It had belonged to the silver-haired boy—Kakashi was his name, and he was still ruled as a missing-person, not that anyone besides the CSIs cared since no one in the entire city of Las Vegas seemed to know that he even existed. Along with his other possessions, it had been left in the hospital and later brought back to the lab as standard procedure. The day-shift crew had grouped it with the Ripper evidence, not knowing where else to put it. It was as Minato said, if she remembered correctly, the mark of a shinobi.

There was a brief silence, but no sign of surprise from Sara. After a while, she spoke, her voice sounding strangely hollow, "I can't help but wonder," she said softly, "How they are right now."

"I'm sure they're fine. They probably made it back to wherever they came from." Grissom said, unsure of whether he should reassure her or tell her bluntly to forget it, since they would probably never meet again.

"They were both so young," she mused, not giving any indication that she had heard what Grissom said. And it was true, Minato was barely twenty, the age of a college student, and Kakashi was but a child, yet both had done unspeakable things. "How do they bear it?"

Grissom did not know how to reply to this.

But a voice in her mind, or perhaps both their minds answered with the memory of clear blue eyes,

_I kill…to protect._

Sara abruptly sat up straight, sighing as she put the headband back, along with the rest of the evidence. It was time, she felt, to put the past behind her, and preferably with a steel-reinforced, locked door with the key thrown away..

Grissom felt something akin to relief, or perhaps something deeper, as he saw her stand up, stretching slightly, outlined in the dim light through the window.

He found himself opening his mouth, "Would you like to get breakfast?" it tumbled out quickly, before he could stop it, sounding as nervous as a young schoolboy.

Sara glanced up in mild surprise, but it was quickly wiped away by a grin.

"I'd love to."

*~*~*

Minato knew exactly where he would find his student. He hurried towards the spot, nearly bursting with anticipation, knowing exactly what the boy would do once he found out. He did, for a second, wonder if it would be worth it—because Kakashi would be furious and a furious Kakashi was not fun, even if he was terribly cute—but the thought disappeared as quickly as mist dispersing in the sun. No, Minato knew that he would not regret this.

Kakashi had only been released from the hospital that morning, after three days of nurses fussing over the 'poor kid who's so cute', which annoyed the boy to no end. Now that he had finally escaped the clutches of the overenthusiastic nurses, Kakashi was no doubt training again, preparing for the future missions that they would no doubt be sent on. They were, after all, still in a time of war.

A bright smile with the faintest trace of melancholy graced the blonde jonin's face as he saw the familiar form of the boy, practicing his kata in the training field with a look of intense concentration, performing each movement perfectly. He was, in short, the picture of a perfect ninja. Other kids of his age always found time to play with other children, despite the war and increasing missions and ever decreasing age limit for genins.

But Kakashi—he had always been a loner, separated from others of his age by his genius and maturity and unfortunate heritage, and it worried Minato. There must be something wrong, he thought, if a child could kill and almost be killed without even shedding a tear and train so hard when he had just recovered because he knew that next time he must be stronger…

Kakashi seemed to feel his sensei's gaze and stopped abruptly between moves, glancing in the blonde's direction. Minato's smile widened into a grin as he waved towards the boy. Kakashi looked slightly surprised to see the jonin, but the surprise was quickly hidden, and the boy greeted Minato politely yet distant, as he always did. There was something wrong, Minato thought again with a mental sigh, if a child could be nine and act like he was thirty.

But, depressing thoughts aside, Minato beamed happily at his young charge with the look of one who knows more than he lets on. "I see you're finally out of the hospital!" he declared. Kakashi looked at him with a raised eyebrow, a hint of suspicion passing through his onyx eyes. "Hai…" he replied anyways, polite as ever.

An awkward silence descended as Minato wondered what to say next. It was not as if he could just tell _this_ to his student right away.

"So…" he drawled, breaking the silence, "How did you like your first S-class mission?" as soon as the question was out of his mouth, Minato felt like slamming his head on the nearest tree for his stupidity. It was not exactly the most pleasant question to ask so soon after the traumatic events of said mission.

As expected, Kakashi's face darkened, and a look between distaste and displeasure crossed the boy's face as the memories of the blood and near-sacrifice and ritual in the place called 'Las Vegas' resurfaced, "It was…not what I expected."

Well, Minato thought, might as well tell him.

"Ano…" he started slowly. Kakashi's dark eyes stared at him intently, and Minato could feel himself sweating under the gaze. He suddenly thought what a good member of the torture and interrogation team Kakashi would make…

"Yes, sensei?" Kakashi prompted coolly.

"I have something to tell you." Minato could not suppress a smirk, knowing very well how his only student would take the news. Kakashi waited patiently for him to continue.

"I have just taken on two genin your age." Minato announced finally. Kakashi froze as his genius mind processed this statement and found itself somehow unable to comprehend it. Minato chuckled at his student's shocked and, dare he say, cute expression. Before he could stop himself, his hand shot out to ruffle the silvery hair.

"Congratulations, 'Kashi!" he chirruped, overlooking the horrified expression on the young chunin's face, "You're going to be a sempai!"

*~*~*

End.


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